The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP
Secretary of State for Transport

Chris Grayling was appointed as Secretary of State for Transport on 14 July 2016. He was elected Conservative MP for Epsom and Ewell in 2001. 

Chris served as Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions from May 2010 until September 2012. He was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from September 2012 until May 2015, and Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons from May 2015 until 14 July 2016.

He also held a number of shadow front bench posts, including Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. Responsibilities include:

• transport strategy, including economic growth and climate change
• spending review
• transport security
• high speed rail (HS2)

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).

Henrik Anderberg
HS2 Director
Alstom UK&I

Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, Henrik spent 10 years with IBM on executive positions in Sales, Consultancy, Outsourcing and Management, which included Project Executive for setting up the road toll system around Stockholm (2004-2006). Henrik also spent 2 years in Paris for IBM Europe serving as Operations Executive for International deals, followed by a position as CEO for an international software company and, lastly, served as MD for Alstom Transport in the Nordics countries for 4 years. Henrik is chairman of the Board for Alstom Transport Sweden and as Norway, and joined Alstom UK in July 2015 as HS2 Director and is on the board of Alstom UK.

Councillor Judith Blake
Leader
Leeds City Council

Cllr Judith Blake was elected as the first ever female Leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015. She is also the Council's Executive Board Member for Economy and Culture and is playing a key role in attracting major national and international inward investment in to Leeds.

She previously served as Deputy Leader for 5 years. During that time, as the Executive Member for Children's and Families, Cllr Blake helped Children's Services in Leeds move from an Ofsted rating of 'inadequate' to 'good overall', with a rating of 'outstanding' for Leadership and Management. Only 4 other authorities in the country at the time had an 'outstanding' rating within their report.

Cllr Blake has been an elected member since 1996. Her time as a Councillor has seen her have responsibility for a wide range of portfolios including Planning, Education and Leisure. Cllr Blake currently chairs the Council's Executive Board and has also served as a board member for NHS Leeds and the West Yorkshire Police Authority.

Elizabeth de Jong
Director of Policy
Rail Delivery Group

Elizabeth is Director of Policy for the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which she joined in April 2015. The purpose of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) is to enable Network Rail and train and freight operating companies to succeed by delivering better services for their customers. This ultimately benefits taxpayers and the economy. At RDG she is responsible for two portfolios: industry reform; and the planning of tomorrow's railway, and also oversees our work on freight and analysis and research.

An economist by background, she has gained an in-depth knowledge of UK rail industry from several angles: consultancy; train operating company; owning group; and central government. She started her career with MVA and SDG, before undertaking a range of senior roles for Stagecoach Group businesses, and then joining the Department for Transport where she worked in franchise management and franchise procurement.

Nick Fletcher
Executive Director
Fusion

Nick is a chartered civil engineer with over 25 years' UK and international experience. A Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), he holds overall responsibility for Morgan Sindall's Aviation, Highways & General Civils, Rail, Major Projects and Utility Services businesses, in addition to being Executive Director for the Morgan Sindall construction and infrastructure business as a whole.

In addition to his governance duties at Morgan Sindall, Nick is also executive director at Fusion (a joint venture of Morgan Sindall, BAM Nuttall and Ferrovial Agroman), one of the bidding consortia's for High Speed Rail contracts in the UK. Nick leads on Fusion's strategy for collaboration and EDI - the latter being an issue that Nick is passionate about, and is keen to progress as we embark on a momentous time for transport within the UK.

An advocate for real change, Nick has recently been driving the case for 'Gender Balance' and this year's Women in Construction and Engineering awards, saw two Fusion (Morgan Sindall) employees pick up the winning awards for both Best Male and Female Mentor. Nick is not only proud of the achievements of his colleagues, but hopes such accolades inspire and motivate the wider industry on the need to address and rebalance the demographic of our workforce.

Sue Kershaw (Chair)
Programme Director of Major Projects Advisory and UK Head of Infrastructure Programme and Project Management
KPMG LLP

Sue is the Programme Director of Major Projects Advisory and the UK Head of Infrastructure Programme and Project Management at KPMG.

She was Director of Rail, Europe for CH2MHILL and is a Board member of the Association for Project Management. Previously Sue was Director of Programme Management for Grosvenor Britain and Ireland and prior to this, Sue was Deputy Director of Transport for the Olympic Delivery Authority, responsible for all rail and road transport for the games and the programme management of the wider portfolio.

Sue is a Civil Engineer, and an avid promoter of programme management as a discipline and is passionate about improving performance and visibility of the profession. Sue has a keen interest in regeneration and is a great supporter of improving London as a city for the future, and is a member of the London Enterprise Panel.

She is an advocate for the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda in her professional, and voluntary work, and actively supports initiatives to raise awareness of these issues.

Sue also fully supports the engagement of industry, the engineering professions and education sector in working together to plug the critical skills gap in engineering and programme management we have in the UK.

Sir Terry Morgan CBE
Chair
National College for High Speed Rail

Sir Terry Morgan took over the role of Chairman of Crossrail on 1 June 2009.

Crossrail is a £14.9bn project, sponsored by the DfT and TfL, to deliver a world class affordable railway that links Maidenhead and Heathrow west of London with the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, to Stratford and Shenfield north east of London and Woolwich and Abbey Wood to the south east.

Prior to this, Sir Terry was Chief Executive of Tube Lines, a PPP company that was contracted to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.

Terry's employment record also includes:

• Group Managing Director, Operations, BAE Systems
• Group HR Director, BAE Systems
• Managing Director (Royal Ordnance)
• Managing Director (Land Rover), Rover Group
• Operations Director, Rover Group

Sir Terry Morgan is the past President of the CMI (Chartered Management Institute) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Electrical Engineers. He has an MSc in Engineering Production & Management.

Sir Terry is Chairman of Ricardo plc, Chairman of HS2 College Governing Body and Non-Executive Chairman of the Manufacturing Technology Centre.

He is also a Trustee of the London Transport Museum and the Crossrail Art Foundation. In addition Terry led a skills review for the transport sector in support of the Government's commitment to 30,000 apprentices by 2020.

Sadie Morgan
Design Chair
High Speed Two Ltd

After studying Interior Design at Kingston Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art, Sadie Morgan co-founded the award-winning practice, dRMM Architects, with Alex de Rijke and Philip Marsh. The studio is renowned for creating innovative, high quality and socially useful architecture.

Sadie regularly lectures nationally and internationally as a keynote speaker. She has sat on numerous competition jury and advisory panels including the RIBA National Awards Advisory panel and the World Architecture Festival super jury, and regularly represents the profession in the media. She became the youngest and only third ever-female President of the Architectural Association in 2013 and in 2016 she was appointed Visiting Professor of Interior Architecture at the University of Westminster, London. In 2014 she was shortlisted for the AJ Woman Architect of the Year award, and recently won the 2015 CBI First Woman Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the built environment. Sadie was appointed as Design Chair for High Speed Two (HS2) in March 2015, reporting directly to the Secretary of State. As of November 2015, she is also a member of the newly formed National Infrastructure Commission, led by former Cabinet Minister Lord Adonis.

Councillor Liam Robinson
Chair
Merseytravel

Cllr Liam Robinson is a Liverpool City Councillor, who has represented the Kensington and Fairfield Ward since 2008. He was elected Chair of Merseytravel in June 2012. Merseytravel is the Executive body that provides professional, strategic and operational transport advice to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to enable it to make informed decisions. It is also the delivery arm, making transport happen.

Cllr Robinson has key roles in strategic transport groups, ensuring the Liverpool City Region is at the 'top table' when it comes to influencing and decision making on a regional and national basis. He is city region representative on the Transport for the North board and currently Chairs the Rail North Limited Board.

Making public transport more affordable, particularly for young people, is a key focus for Cllr Robinson. He has championed the introduction of reduced price bus fares for all young people up to their 19th Birthday. The development of a bus strategy, believed to be the first of its kind, has been introduced under Cllr Robinson's chairmanship with the aim of focused collaboration between Merseytravel and the operators, with the joint objective of sustainable patronage growth

Cllr Robinson grew up in Cheshire and studied politics at Manchester University. He has held a number of management positions in the Bus, Coach and Rail sectors including managing three of Britain's largest railway stations: Liverpool Lime Street, London Liverpool Street and Sheffield.

Laura Shoaf
Managing Director
Transport for West Midlands

Laura Shoaf is Managing Director of Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) – part of the West Midlands Combined Authority. She has more than 20 years international experience in delivering integrated economic and spatial regeneration.

In her native USA, Laura held positions in the New York City Department of City Planning and the Institute of Public Administration, before overseeing several high-level projects both in the UK and America in her role as Principal Consultant for GVA Grimley.

As Head of Strategic Planning and Implementation at the Black Country Consortium, Laura led on transportation and strategic planning, playing a key role in the creation of the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Becoming Black Country Director of Transport in 2013, Laura championed and provided leadership for the area's transport agenda, integrating transport priorities with the Economic Strategy and providing transport policy and strategy advice directly to Chief Executives, Leaders and the LEP.

In 2015, Laura became Strategic Director for Transport for the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority and then in June 2016 was appointed Managing Director of TfWM. She is responsible for key initiatives across the metropolitan area such as Midlands Connect, the HS2 Connectivity Package and the region's Strategic Transport Plan. She is also responsible for delivering a £4billion transport package over the next 10 years underpinning economic regeneration in the West Midlands. She liaises closely at senior level with Government departments including the DfT and Treasury and also brokers partnerships with agencies such as Highways England and Network Rail, influencing the national agenda for the benefit of the West Midlands.

Anthony Smith (Chair)
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
Greengauge21

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.

Richard Threlfall (Chair)
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, the Department for Transport, Network Rail and High Speed 2. 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.

Vicki Turner
HR Director
Thales UK Ground Transport Systems

Vicki is the HR Director for the Thales UK Ground Transportation Systems (GTS) business. Ground Transportation Systems supplies systems, solutions, equipment and services for mobility on railways, roads and public networks in the UK, helping its customers operate infrastructures at higher capacities so passengers and goods can reach their destinations quicker and safer.

Having worked for Thales for 10 years with HR leadership responsibility in various parts of Thales UK, Vicki now leads and manages major change, the growth in organisation competence & skills, and significant culture transformation to ensure Thales Ground Transportation Systems in the UK has the capability to succeed and achieve its vision To be acclaimed by its customers as the market leader, delivering safe and sustainable transport solutions.

Vicki avidly believes by taking a holistic approach with diversity at the heart is key to ensuring we have talented high calibre people for the future, particularly in the Transport market place. Growing a committed and loyal workforce is important to success and diversifying talent pipelines will ensure organisations continue to attract, recruit and develop the best people. A diverse and inclusive approach gives the right environment to create a high performing organisation that is a sought after place to work – exactly what Vicki is striving for Thales to be.