JUDGING PANEL

Val Shawcross CBE
Chair of the Judging Panel and Former Deputy Mayor of London for Transport

Val Shawcross served as Lambeth and Southwark's representative on the London Assembly between 2000 and 2016. She chaired the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) from 2000 to 2008. Between 2008 and 2016 Val was the Labour Group's transport spokesperson, alternating between being Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly Transport Committee.

In recognition of the work of the Transport Committee, Val was jointly awarded the London Cycling Campaign's 'Cycling Champion of the Year'. In March 2016 she was also awarded for 'Outstanding Contribution to Transport in London' by Transport Times and for 'Outstanding Contribution to Promoting Accessible Transport' by Transport for All.

Val is a former Labour Party National Women's Officer, and was a Croydon councillor between 1994 and 2000, serving as Leader from 1997 to 2000. She was awarded a CBE in 2002 for services to Local Government.

Val has a BA in Politics and an MA in Education. She has worked for the Inner London Education Authority, the Commonwealth Secretariat and as Head of Public Affairs for the National Federation of Women's Institutes.

She currently chairs the independent Heathrow Area Transport Forum. 

Professor David Begg
Chief Executive
Transport Times

Professor David Begg is Chief Executive of Portobello Partnership Ltd which specialises in strategic advice to clients in the transport sector; publishes Transport Times magazine; and runs a series of transport best practice awards in conjunction with the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland and Transport for London.

He is a non-executive board member of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd and is a member of the Cubic Transportation Systems’ Advisory Board. From 1999 to 2005 he chaired the Government’s Commission for Integrated Transport which was set up to advise the Government on transport policy and to monitor performance. He was a board member of Transport for London from 2000 to 2006 before joining Tube Lines as chairman (2006-2010). He was a non-executive director of the Strategic Rail Authority and before that British Rail. From 2005-2014 David was a Non-Executive Director of First Group Ltd.

Before moving to London he was Professor of Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. He is a visiting professor in Transport at Plymouth University. In the 1990s he was the political lead on transport on Lothian Region and then the City of Edinburgh councils.

Katharina Winbeck
Head of Transport, Environment and Infrastructure.
London Councils

Katharina is the Head of Transport, Environment and Infrastructure at London Councils. 

Leon Daniels OBE
Principal
Leon Daniels & Associates Ltd

Until his retirement from Transport for London (TfL) in December 2017 and working with two London Mayors, Daniels brought his unique range of experience to his role as managing director, surface transport at TfL, with responsibility for delivery of £3.5 billion of road, light rail and transport services and all major, civil engineering infrastructure projects in the city. He remains a trustee of the London Transport Museum.

Daniels was responsible for the successful delivery of transport during the 'most successful public transport games ever' in London 2012 by applying his hands-on operational experience and policy-making and implementation skills. Since then, Daniels has been responsible for numerous major events in London such as RideLondon and London Marathon.

In 1998, prior to joining TfL, Daniel's had sold his own venture-capital backed business to a FTSE 100, multinational transport business, creating the largest and most profitable operating unit within the £3 billion turnover organization. As commercial director of U.K. Bus, he had responsibility for new ventures such as Aircoach, Greyhound, Yellow School Bus, the company's pioneering bus/tram project 'ftr' and for delivering coach and bus services across the U.K. and internationally.

Daniel's continues to make a significant contribution to the progress of global thinking on road and vehicle safety, efficiencies, the social effects of autonomous vehicles and technical developments generally on road and rail. He also champions those under-represented in transport by background, culture and gender to ensure that future transport leaders will more adequately represent the diversity of the passengers carried and the staff employed.

Iain Stewart MP
Chair
Transport Select Committee

Iain Stewart was first elected as Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South in May 2010. Soon after he was elected by fellow MPs to sit on the Transport Select Committee (TSC). He was the longest serving Member of the Committee until he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Transport, Sir Patrick Mcloughlin. Following his successful re-election in May 2015 he was moved to the Scotland Office to serve as PPS to David Mundell MP. Following the appointment of Theresa May as Prime Minister, Iain was moved to the newly formed Department for International Trade as the PPS to Dr Liam Fox MP.

Iain has also Chaired of a number of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) including those on Smart Cities and the Future of Rail. In December 2017, Iain was appointed as the Government's official champion for the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge corridor.

Iain was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South in the 2019 General Election. He received 32,011 votes, taking a 50% share of all votes cast; he was returned with a majority of 6,944.

On Wednesday 16 November, Iain was elected as the Chair of the Transport Select Committee.

Iain is passionate about transport, specifically the Railway Industry, and is taking a keen interest in the development of the East-West Rail link, high speed rail, electric vehicle technology and driverless automation.

Jason Prince
Director
Urban Transport Group

Prior to joining UTG in July 2023, Jason was Head of Public Affairs for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for over three years and he also worked for Transport for Greater Manchester for four years. During both roles, Jason was actively involved in working with partners on buses, specifically the Bus Services Act (2017) and its impact on the future of transport in Greater Manchester, supporting the early development of Greater Manchester's Bee Network and rail projects including HS2, and on innovation and devolution.

Before joining TfGM in 2016, Jason worked for a Member of Parliament, supporting on key policy areas of transport and energy.

Prior to working in politics, Jason held a variety of positions in the private and third sector. He was a business development manager in the field of welfare to work for nearly five years. He was also an operations manager for a third sector organisation across the North of England.