Lord Adonis
Chair
National Infrastructure Commission

Lord Andrew Adonis was appointed as chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission on 5 October 2015. He was a member of the independent Armitt Commission, which recommended an independent National Infrastructure Commission in 2013.

Andrew Adonis was formerly the Transport Secretary from 2009 to 2010, Minister of State for Transport from 2008 to 2009 and Minister for Schools from 2005 to 2008. He was Head of the No10 Policy Unit from 2001 to 2005.

Paul Maynard MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport

Paul Maynard was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport on 17 July 2016. He was elected Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys in May 2010.

The minister is responsible for:

• rail (including housing development)
• rail security
• light rail

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.

Professor David Begg (Chair)
Chief Executive
Transport Times

Prof 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, a member of the Cubic Transportation Systems' Advisory Board and a non-executive chairman of EAMS Group.

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.

Graham Botham
Strategy & Planning Director
Network Rail

As Network Rail's Strategy & Planning Director (North) Graham leads Network Rail's long term planning of the national network in the north of England in partnership with Transport for the North. Passionate about how transport and rail, in particular, can facilitate economic growth Graham led the development of and secured the funding for the Northern Hub package of rail improvements across the north of England. Graham joined the rail industry in 1987 undertaking a range of roles delivering passenger services on a daily basis for over 20 years and developing enhancements to support and improve the Strategic Freight Network.
Passionate about how transport and rail in particular can facilitate economic growth Graham led the development of and secured the funding for the Northern Hub package of rail improvements across the north of England.
Graham joined the rail industry in 1987 undertaking a range of roles delivering passenger services on a daily basis for over 20 years and developing enhancements to support and improve the Strategic Freight Network.

Melanie Corcoran
Director of Delivery
West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Melanie joined the Combined Authority in 2016 and is responsible for the delivery of a £1bn plus portfolio of capital projects and programmes funded by Growth deal and other grant funding. Growth Deal supports the Flood resilience programme in the Leeds City Region to the tune of £20m. Other programmes in the delivery portfolio include skills capital, to invest in further educational facilities across the Leeds City Region; the West Yorkshire plus Transport Fund, supporting transport infrastructure projects; grants and loans to businesses and for innovation schemes which result in job growth; supporting superfast broadband; housing and regeneration schemes.

Robert Drewery
Commercial Director
Optare

Robert has over 15 years of national and international sales and marketing experience gained within the bus and commercial vehicle industries at a senior level.

Robert's career in the commercial vehicle and bus industry started with Leyland Daf where he gained extensive experience in both sales and aftersales, followed by the role of business development director of the truck maintenance company, Pullman Fleet Services.
More recently Robert led the Wrightbus sales team to win a number of major UK and international contracts supplying Wrightbus products. Robert also oversaw the introduction and support of the New Routemaster.

Over the last 18 months at Optare, Robert has been focused on engaging with operators across the UK to the deliver an extensive demonstration programme for the new double deck product and extended range electric buses. He has also used his international sales experience to help expand Optare's presence in overseas markets, in particular Australia and South East Asia.

Will Dunnett
Managing Director
Hull Trains

Will Dunnett is Managing Director for Hull Trains, part of First Group plc. Will joined the Group in 2012 and became Managing Director in 2013. His career record includes almost twenty-five years experience in a number of leadership, senior commercial, service and marketing roles in many of the most complex transport environments.

Under his steer, Hull Trains has seen unprecedented growth and commercial success. The organisation has collected various accolades for its industry leading customer service as well as being crowned Rail Operator of the Year 2016/7.

With an acute and unrelenting focus on people and the customer, Will has succeeded in positioning Hull Trains at the top of the National Rail Passenger Survey for customer satisfaction for the past four consecutive years. In 2017, Hull Trains was accredited with Gold Standard Investors in People, demonstrating unprecedented engagement and empowerment amongst Will's front line team.

Paul Griffiths
Managing Director of Phase 2
HS2 Ltd

Paul joined HS2 Ltd in July 2015 as Phase Two Development Director; he is responsible for the leadership of the team developing the routes and Hybrid Bill documentation for Phase Two from Crewe to Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds.

Prior to joining HS2 Ltd, Paul worked in regional transport and has held Director level positions at both Centro (West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive) and Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (now TfGM) where he was responsible for leading the development of their light rail systems and other capital infrastructure investments.

Paul is a civil engineer by training and started his career at British Rail prior to working in consultancy and client roles for a wide range of organisations in the UK and abroad.

Amy Harhoff
Head of Corporate Affairs
Transport for Greater Manchester

Amy is an experienced senior policy and communications professional. Amy has worked within the transport, development and economic context for 15 years, leading agendas with the public and private sector, covering investment in a broad range of transport policy agendas and infrastructure programmes.

As Director of Corporate Affairs at TfGM, she is responsible for the development of a diverse Policy and Communications agenda, whilst playing a key role to influence national and international policy. Engaging with key media, businesses, communities, industries and politicians both nationally and internationally, Amy supports the priorities of an ambitious mayoral-led Combined Authority.

Previously Amy was responsible for overseeing the development of the successful Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, the initiation of TfN's Strategic Transport Plan and has played a key role in developing TfN in becoming a statutory organisation.

Amy joined TfN from her role leading the Infrastructure, Transport and Housing Directorate at Sheffield City Region, where she was responsible for the strategic planning of the city regions infrastructure investment programme. This included oversight for the business case development of major investment in transport, housing and wider economic infrastructure.

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.

John Pickworth
Business Development Director
Cubic

John is the Business Development Director for Cubic's European division with responsibility for strategy, sales and investment opportunities. He has over 15 years' experience in the transport technology business bringing commercial, partnering and strategic expertise to promote business growth and operational improvements, both within the public and private sector. John is responsible for the identification and delivery of projects that align to Cubic's NextCity vision – something particularly relevant to the various Northern transport initiatives. His particular focus is currently around integrating transport and retail opportunities, helping operators and government bodies maximise their revenue returns across multi-modes while at the same time creating seamless customer solutions through account driven strategies.

Alastair Richards
Programme Director – Integrated and Smart Travel (IST)
Transport for the North

Alastair has over 30 years' experience in transport operations, project management and engineering, and over 17 years' experience in managing and directing transport delivery projects and franchise bids.

At TfN, he is responsible for the £150 Million Integrated and Smart Travel Programme which is working to deliver Account Based Ticketing across the North of England. Alastair works closely with DfT, Local Authority Partners and Bus and Train operators across the region as well as managing the team delivering the programme.

Previously, Alastair has led on delivering smart ticketing on bus, rail and ferry in Scotland. He has also managed several transport projects in the UK and abroad, including major projects in North America and Denmark, where he achieved a number of successful commercial outcomes in rail, bus and major urban transit schemes.

David Sidebottom (Chair)
Director
Transport Focus

David has been with Transport Focus since January 2006 and previously spent over 11 years representing the needs and interests of energy consumers in the north west of England where he was Regional Director of energywatch, the gas and electricity consumer council.