Roy Brannen
Chief Executive
Transport Scotland

Roy took over the role as Chief Executive in Transport Scotland on 5 November 2015. Prior to that he was the Director of Trunk Road and Bus Operations where he had responsibility for the management and operation of the Scottish trunk road network, some 3,500km in total for which his direct responsibilities include trunk road safety, delivering the annual maintenance programme effectively, the implementation and development of Intelligent Transport Systems, the maintenance of the trunk road bridges stock and commenting on proposals for development which might impact on the Trunk Road Network.

Roy's responsibilities also included the operation of Scotland's National Concessionary Travel Schemes, the Bus Service Operator's Grant and the development of a national Smart and Integrated Ticketing strategy.

Roy is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers with over 25 years experience in the field of highway engineering.

Prof. David Begg
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.

Gavin Booth
Director
Bus Users Scotland

Gavin Booth is Director of Bus Users Scotland, part of the Bus Users UK family. Born in Edinburgh he joined the Scottish Bus Group in 1961 as a management trainee and was Group Marketing Manager when he left the group at the time of privatisation in 1988. Since that time he has been a self-employed consultant and has written extensively on transport matters. More recently he was Chair of Bus Users UK before concentrating his efforts on setting up Bus Users Scotland, working on behalf of bus passengers throughout Scotland.

Mark Carne
Chief Executive
Network Rail

Mark has formally been appointed Accounting Officer for Network Rail by the Secretary of State for Transport, meaning he is personally accountable to Parliament for Network Rail’s stewardship of public funds.

Mark was formerly executive vice president for Royal Dutch Shell plc in the Middle East and North Africa, responsible for the company’s business in a vital but volatile region at a time of significant political change. Before taking on that role he was executive vice president and managing director for BG Group plc in Europe and Central Asia. Mark joined BG from Shell where he worked in a variety of roles during a 21 year period, including responsibility for Shell’s oil and gas platforms in the North Sea and as managing director for Brunei Shell Petroleum. Mark is a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Prof Iain Docherty (Chair)
Professor of Public Policy and Governance and Head of Management
University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School

Iain Docherty BSc PhD CMILT is Professor of Public Policy and Governance and Head of Management at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School. Iain's research and teaching addresses the interconnecting issues of public administration, institutional change and city and regional competitiveness, with particular emphasis on the structures and processes of local and regional governance, policies for delivering improved economic performance and environmental sustainability, and the development and implementation of strategic planning and transport policies. His total research and consultancy awards in the last six years exceed £2 million, and he is currently Co-Director of the Scottish Cities Knowledge Centre and Co-Investigator on two major Research Council projects on sustainable transport and low carbon transitions. Iain has worked with and advised a range of private sector, governmental and other organisations including governments and public agencies in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and Sweden, and the OECD. He served as Non-Executive director of Transport Scotland, the national transport agency for Scotland, from 2006 – 2010. Iain was appointed as one of the inaugural members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy of Scotland in 2011, and to the Expert Panel advising the North East Independent Economic Review in 2012.

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.

Giles Fearnley
Managing Director – UK Bus
FirstGroup Plc

Giles Fearnley has been Managing Director of First Group's UK Bus Division since February 2011.

In 1991 he led a management buy-out of Blazefield Holdings which operated bus networks principally across Yorkshire and Lancashire. He remained as Chief Executive for two years following the group's sale to Transdev plc in 2006. In the mid 90's Giles took a "sabbatical" from the bus industry into rail and was one of the founders of Prism Rail plc, which operated four UK passenger rail franchises. He was appointed as Chief Executive and led the Group prior to the sale in 2000 to National Express. He then served as Chairman of Grand Central, the open access rail operator, prior to its sale to BB in 2011.

At various times, Giles has served as Chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies and President and then Chairman until 2011, of the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

Dr George Hazel OBE
Programme Manager
MaaS Scotland

Dr Hazel has extensive experience in all aspects of transport and communications, both urban and rural. He has specific expertise from around the world in strategic planning and policy development, the integration of transport with other related areas, the future trends for mobility, smart mobility and innovative funding of transport infrastructure. He is known internationally for his expertise in Land Value Capture as a way to fund transport infrastructure.

He has studied transport policy and practice in many countries, both the successful and the unsuccessful, and has gained a detailed insight into the key issues and influences. He has worked in the public, private and academic sectors at a senior level and has acted as advisor to the Academy of Sustainable Communities, the Commission for Integrated Transport, Transport for London, the Queensland State Government, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Region, the City of San Diego and many Government agencies around the UK. He has published a book on Making Cities Work and has presented at a large number of conferences around the world. He was appointed as Smart Mobility Network Integrator for Scottish Enterprise on the development of a Mobility as a Service industry network from 2013 to 2016 and established the Scottish MaaS Alliance. He is currently the Programme Manager for MaaS Scotland, a network of over 50 companies hosted by Technology Scotland with ScotlandIS. He also advised the Transport Catapult on Mobility as a Service for a Department of Transport report. He is recognized as a world expert on Mobility as a Service. He has been asked to chair a National Connectivity Commission on behalf of the Scottish Council for Development in Industry. He is also advising Hiyacar, a peer to peer car sharing company in the UK.

John Hill
Senior Account Director
Cubic Transportation Systems Ltd

John has worked in the systems integration environment for 30 years including 15 years in the flight simulation and training industry and 15 years in the public transportation ticketing sector. In his time in the simulation business with CAE he headed an R&D facility at NASA Ames Research Centre in California and managed a large helicopter training PFI contract for the Royal Air Force in Oxfordshire. John joined Cubic in 2000 and became the Programme Director responsible for rolling out Oyster in London in 2003/2004. In recent years he has led Cubic's work on open payments in London culminating in the system-wide launch of Contactless in September 2014. John most recently was responsible for negotiating a licensing deal allowing Cubic to use TfL's Contactless Back Office intellectual property world-wide.

Bill Reeve
Director of Rail
Transport Scotland

Bill Reeve joined Transport Scotland to establish its new rail team, following the devolution of rail powers to the Scottish Parliament in 2005. Bill has worked in a number of roles in Transport Scotland, and am now Director of Rail. Bill also leads their work introducing integrated smart ticketing across all public transport modes in Scotland.

Bill has more than thirty years of experience of the passenger and freight transport industry, working in British Rail, the privatised rail industry, and as Director of Project Sponsorship at the Strategic Rail Authority prior to joining Transport Scotland.

Bill's career has included front line production management; rail freight business development; policy and strategy development; management of franchise contracts; and major rail project sponsorship including new railways, rolling stock and service developments.

Bill is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and recently served as Chairman of its Railway Division.

Sam Smith
Programme Manager
Borders Railway Blueprint

Sam Smith is currently Programme Manager for the Borders Railway Blueprint, working for eight partner organisations - Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Transport Scotland, ScotRail and three Local Authorities, to maximise the economic benefits of the Borders Railway. She was previously Economic Development Manager at Scottish Borders Council, leading their business support, tourism & events, rural development, and regeneration activity. Sam graduated from the University of St Andrews, and has worked in a range of roles in the third and public sectors. She lives in the Borders and is a frequent user of the new Borders Railway which is breathing new life into the economies of Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.

Peter Strachan
Managing Director
Serco Caledonian Sleeper

Aberdeen-born Peter Strachan was educated at Kirkcudbright Academy and Durham University, joining the railways 37 years ago as a British Rail management trainee.

A life-long railwayman, he has held a string of senior roles, including running a train operating company and a major section of Network Rail. He was appointed Managing Director Serco Caledonian Sleeper in 2014.

Prior to joining Serco in 2013, Peter was Director-General Major Projects for the Department for Transport, leading on the UK Government's major rail and road capital projects and for transport in London, including the London 2012 Olympics and chairing the CrossRail joint sponsor board.

Also in the UK, Peter has successfully led a number of UK train operating companies as Managing Director, including Arriva Trains Wales and was Route Director for Network Rail London North Western. Overseas, Peter was CEO of National Express Group's Rail Division in Melbourne and latterly CEO for TransLink Transit Authority in Brisbane.