Robert Goodwill MP
Transport Minister

Robert Goodwill was appointed Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Transport in October 2013. Robert represented Yorkshire and the Humber in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004. He was Deputy Leader of the Conservative MEPs during his term, which also saw him active as Deputy Coordinator for the Environment Committee. He was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Scarborough and Whitby in 2005. After spending 18 months as a member of the Transport Select Committee, he was appointed a Whip by David Cameron in 2006 and promoted to the post of shadow Roads Minister on the transport team in 2007. He was re-elected at the 2010 General Election and appointed to the Government as a Whip with responsibility for HM Treasury and Defra business.

Robert was educated at Bootham School in York, and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in 1979.

Robert is married and has two sons and a daughter. He farms 250 acres of land near Malton in North Yorkshire, which has been in his family since 1850. He is also the managing director of Mowthorpe (UK) Ltd, which offers environmentally friendly burials.

His hobbies include his two steam traction engines and steam waggon, as well as driving his 1900 De Dion Bouton car.

Robert Goodwill has Ministerial responsibility for:

• high speed rail (HS2)
• aviation
• Europe and international
• maritime
• devolution
• cycling and walking

Simon Kirby
Chief Executive
High Speed Two

Simon Kirby is Chief Executive of High Speed Two (HS2) Limited.

Simon joined HS2 Ltd in May 2014 from Network Rail where he was Managing Director of the Infrastructure Projects business, responsible for the delivery of all large enhancement and renewal infrastructure projects. He joined the Board in 2008, having been with the Company since 2003.

Prior to 2003, Simon held various positions in the Defence industry within VSEL, GEC Marconi and BAE Systems.

In addition to his duties on HS2, Simon is also a director of the Major Projects Association and the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering. Simon is also a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers (FICE), Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) and the Association of Project Management (APM).

Keith Brown MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities

Keith Brown has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament since 2007 and is currently the constituency MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane. Before his election he served for eleven years as a councillor in Clackmannanshire, and held the post of Council Leader from 1999 to 2003. He was appointed Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning in February 2009 and has since held a number of ministerial roles including Minister for Transport and Veterans in September 2012. In November 2014 he was appointed to the role of Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities.

Mr Brown worked for 15 years as a local government professional in neighbouring Stirling, where he was also an active trade union representative with UNISON. He is a graduate of Dundee University and studied at the University of Prince Edward Island. Originally from Edinburgh, Keith now lives in Dollar.

David Brown
Chief Executive
Transport for the North

David started in this key appointment in November 2015 and comes as Transport for the North (TfN) works towards the publication in March 2016 of its updated strategy for transforming the Northern economy through significantly enhanced connectivity between the city regions.

Previously, David Brown was Chief Executive and Director General of Merseytravel, Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive for two and a half years and in April 2014 the newly formed Liverpool City Region Combined Authority appointed David as Head of Paid Service where he led the transport elements of the Devolution Deal.

Whilst at Merseytravel David led the devolution of rail franchising into the next Northern and TPE franchises through Rail North; a body representing the Local Transport Authorities in the North of England. He has further developed the Merseyrail concession through infrastructure, services and commenced the procurement of the new Rolling Stock Fleet. Merseytravel has also developed "My Ticket", the best ticketing offer for under 18 year olds outside of London, in addition to the Walrus Card, the largest Smart Ticketing system outside of London.

Prior to Merseytravel, David held the position of Director General at South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), since April 2008, and previously held a number of commercial, operational roles on the railway.

David Chaired pteg (Passenger Transport Executive Group), for two years until January 2015, and he led on all provisions relating to the delivery of bus services in Integrated Transport Authority areas and has developed pteg bus policy.

Graeme Clark
Head of Business Development, Rolling Stock
Siemens Rail Systems UK

Graeme Clark is Head of Business Development, Rolling Stock for Siemens Rail Systems in the UK – a division of Siemens that employs some 700 people nationwide and maintains over 350 passenger trains.

Graeme is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers with over 30 years experience in the rail industry.

He has held senior positions within several other prominent rolling stock manufacturers and has extensive knowledge of the UK rail market.

Hans Dekker
President, Infrastructure
Fluor Corporation

Hans Dekker is president of the Infrastructure business line for Fluor Corporation. He is responsible for numerous markets including alternative energy, aviation, bridges, commercial and institutional, ports and marine terminals, rail and transit, telecommunications, and toll roads and highways.

Previously, Mr. Dekker served as vice president of Quality & CPI for Fluor Corporation. He was responsible for the overall integrated (engineering, procurement / supply chain, fabrication, and construction, including where applicable, commissioning and start‐up) quality assurance and continuous performance improvement through the life cycle of all projects executed within Fluor's commercial business lines of Power, Infrastructure, Mining & Metals, Industria Services, Energy & Chemicals (E&C) Americas, E&C EAME and E&C Asia Pacific.

Mr. Dekker has been with Fluor for 22 years. Prior to his position as vice president of Quality & CPI, he served as vice president EAME operations and Global Rail for the firm's Infrastructure business line. He served as director on the board of joint venture partnerships and special purpose entities associated with joint execution or non‐recourse finance of major infrastructure projects and programs. His responsibility included infrastructure's Program Management Consulting (PMC) business operations in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and China.

Jordi Ferrando
Managing Director for Europe
FCC Construccion

Jordi Ferrando is the Managing Director for Europe of FCC Construccion, S.A., with an special attention to the UK market. He began his professional career in the Construction Division of FCC Group in 1990, more than 25 years ago, where he held several positions in the operational and management fields, such as Construction Director and Project Director, Regional Construction Director, Regional Managing Director and Managing Director for Europe, cumulating more than 8 years of international experience in these positions, and more than €6,0 bm turnover. Jordi Ferrando has a Master degree in Civil Engineering by the Catalunya Universidad Politecnica.

Gilles Godard
Project Director
VINCI

Gilles currently heads for VINCI the Joint Venture tasked with the construction of the 300km Tours Bordeaux high speed rail SEA Project in France, a €6bn lump sum turnkey contract to be delivered for commercial operation by LISEA the Concession Company by July 2017. Previously he was CEO of Olympia Odos, a €2.1bn 365km motorway concession project in Greece under construction for which he successfully led the restructuring of its financing and associated contractual changes following the country's sovereign default in 2010. Prior to joining VINCI, he worked for AECOM providing advice to Sponsors, Lenders and financiers on privately financed transactions and previously he ran Lyon's public transport network for six years as Managing Director of SYTRAL. Gilles is a civil engineer and an architect.

Sir Richard Leese CBE
Leader
Manchester City Council

Richard Leese was elected to Manchester City Council in 1984. He became Leader of the Council in 1996. Richard's political interests include devolution, place-based budgets and the links between economic development and social policy, developing open democracy and the community leadership role of local authorities; and the role of cities in creating a sustainable future. He has a number of additional responsibilities including Director of Manchester Airport Holdings Ltd, Vice Chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Chair of the North West Regional Leaders' Board, Chair of the Core Cities Cabinet and Chair of the LGA City Regions Board.

Daniel Loschacoff
Global Head of Rail
KPMG Infrastructure

Daniel has worked on iconic megaprojects on five continents, closing multi-billion HSR deals and supporting government and private investors on various rail projects, including the California HSR and Singapore to KL HSR. After graduating in Economics in Rotterdam, Daniel worked in Africa before becoming a civil servant at the Dutch Treasury's Infrastructure and State Participations Directorate. He joined KPMG in 2006 and has been leading the Global Infrastructure Rail Practice since 2010. Daniel lectured PPPs and Project Finance at Erasmus School of Management, London Business School and participates on the OECD's International Transport Forum.

Luis Fernandez Jimenez
Sales, Business Development & Strategy Director
Thales Spain

Luis is a shipbuilding engineer from the Madrid Polytechnic University and PDG by IESE business school. He is currently the Sales & Business Development Director for Civil Markets in Thales Spain and Vice President of the Spanish Association of Railways Manufacturing. He has devoted most of his professional life to the Railway Signalling sector having held various positions in the commercial, sales and management functions both in domestic and international markets.

Giles Thomas
Acting Technical Director
High Speed 2

Whilst Professor Andrew McNaughton, Technical Director of High Speed acts as Principal Witness for the Hybrid Bill over the coming years, Giles has responsibility for the day to day leadership and running of the HS2 Technical Directorate. The Technical Directorate comprises operational, technical and environmental specialists specifying and assuring the HS2 design process. He is a Chartered Engineer.

Richard Threlfall
Partner & UK Head of Infrastructure, Building and Construction
KPMG LLP

Richard is UK Head of Infrastructure, Building and Construction at KPMG. He has over 20 years' experience in the financing and structuring of infrastructure projects. His particular focus is advising on transactions for public and private clients in the transport and utility sectors.

Before joining KPMG, Richard was at Citigroup, and before that was employed as a civil servant at the UK Department for Transport where he held positions in the road, rail and aviation directorates. Between 1996 and 1998 he was Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Deputy Prime Minister.

Richard's contacts are across the UK infrastructure, construction and transport markets and his clients include Network Rail, High Speed 2 and Highways England. He has advised on some of the UK's most complex projects including HS1, Thames Tideway and the Mersey Gateway Bridge.

Richard is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He also chairs the Advisory Council of The Infrastructure Forum, which is an independent think-tank which brings together organisations with involvement in UK infrastructure from public, private and regulatory perspectives.

Anthony Smith
Chief Executive
Transport Focus

Anthony Smith is Chief Executive of Transport Focus, the independent consumer watchdog for Britain's passengers.
Having qualified as a solicitor, Anthony worked for five years as principal consumer lawyer for the Consumers' Association, publishers of Which? This was followed by a year as the legal consultant for Consumers International, a worldwide federation of consumer groups.

Prior to joining Transport Focus, Anthony was deputy and acting director of ICSTIS, the regulator of premium rate telephone services.

Jim Steer
Director
Steer Davies Gleave

Jim is one of the country's leading authorities on transport. He is a founder of Steer Davies Gleave and was Managing Director until March 2002, when he took a three-year secondment to the Strategic Rail Authority as a member of its Executive with responsibilities for all of its strategic planning activities. In 2005 he re-joined Steer Davies Gleave's Board. He is the Director of Greengauge 21, which has provided ten years of research and evidence on the case for high-speed rail in Britain, and a Director of HSR Industry Leaders. He is also a columnist for the Transport Times.