10 March 2026: Switchee, the UK’s leading provider of smart home technology for social housing, today announces the appointment of Leann Hearne as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Leann will begin a structured handover with Tom in March, ensuring continuity of leadership as she succeeds him in the role. Tom has led Switchee for six years and overseen the company’s journey from an emerging start-up to the UK’s leading IoT provider for social housing.
Hearne’s appointment marks a unique milestone for the sector. As a former housing Chief Executive with extensive board experience, she offers deep insight into the challenges, priorities, and opportunities faced by housing providers. Her manufacturing background further enhances her credibility to lead a company at the intersection of engineering, data, and housing policy, enabling her to navigate these areas seamlessly.
Hearne’s career represents a thread that runs through the same challenges Switchee was created to solve: safe, warm, affordable homes; engaged residents; and landlords equipped with insight to act before problems escalate. Her appointment reflects conviction, shared by the board and investors, that the next phase of growth demands a leader who has sat on both sides of the relationship.
Tom Robins departs Switchee, with his tenure demonstrating maturity in the sector. Under his leadership, Switchee launched the Housing Fuel Poverty Index – the sector’s first and only real-time measure of fuel poverty across social housing – developed Mould IQ, an intelligent damp and mould resolution platform designed specifically to support compliance with Awaab’s Law, and created the Energy Voucher Service, a sector first that delivers direct financial support to social housing residents through the Switchee device.
Switchee’s technology is now widely deployed across tens of thousands of social homes, with strategic partnerships covering retrofit verification, Awaab’s Law compliance, fuel poverty identification and decarbonisation measurement across Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.
The company’s stated ambition – to bring the platform to one million UK social homes – places it at the heart of some of the most critical policy questions of this decade: how social housing providers demonstrate compliance, measure resident wellbeing and invest with confidence in an increasingly regulated environment.
Leann Hearne, incoming Interim CEO of Switchee, said:
"I have spent my career working to make homes safer, warmer and fairer. Joining Switchee is not a departure from that mission – it is an acceleration. What Tom and the team have built here is remarkable - technology that genuinely changes the lives of residents, data that helps landlords make better decisions, and a company whose purpose is inseparable from its product. The opportunities facing the sector, such as Awaab’s Law, fuel poverty and the decarbonisation agenda, are exactly the opportunities Switchee was built for. I am proud to be leading this next chapter."
Tom Robins, outgoing CEO of Switchee, said:
"Leading Switchee has been the greatest privilege of my working life. We set out to prove that technology and data could fundamentally improve the lives of people in social housing, and we have done exactly that, at scale. Handing over to Leann feels right for this moment. She brings the kind of sector knowledge, regulatory credibility and determination that Switchee’s next phase demands. The company is stronger than it has ever been, and I am genuinely excited about what comes next."
For media enquiries, please contact: Daisy Pierce at iNHouse Communications on [email protected] (07874 265855).
About Switchee
Switchee is a leading smart technology solution for the social housing sector, working with over 130 housing providers to ensure homes are safe, warm and healthy. Founded in 2015, Switchee was created to improve the lives of people living in rented homes by using connected technology to lower energy bills and help landlords manage their homes more effectively. Switchee’s smart thermostat and digital dashboard provides real-time data and actionable insights on property performance, supporting landlords to make informed decisions, prevent issues such as damp and mould, and deliver better outcomes for residents.
About Leann Hearne
Leann Hearne is a former CEO with over 20 years' experience leading organisational transformation. Her career spans executive roles, including Group CEO at Livv Housing, Executive Director at Riverside, Managing Director (UK) at Siegenia-Aubi, and Director of Operations at ExtraCare Charitable Trust, alongside founding her own consulting business. Her non-executive portfolio includes roles as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Regulatory Committee at Notting Hill Genesis, Vice Chair and Committee Chair at Yorkshire Housing, Non-Executive Director at Futures Housing Group, and Non-Executive Director at Community Foundations. As a values-driven executive, she specialises in complex change management, governance improvement and building high-performing cultures that deliver both commercial success and meaningful social impact. Throughout her career, Leann has led multimillion-pound restructures and restored stakeholder trust across national and international landscapes.
