Maria Machancoses
Director
Midlands Connect

Maria has been instrumental in the success and development of Midlands Connect since helping to set up the partnership in 2014. Maria has also worked as Director of the Midlands Engine and managed the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority's input into the HS2 Hybrid Bill. Originally from Valencia in Spain, Maria has worked in the UK for more than 20 years.

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.

Prof. David Begg (Session 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 online blogs and runs a series of transport best practice awards in conjunction with the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, Transport for London and Transport for the North.

He is a non-executive board member of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, is a member of the Cubic Transportation Systems' Advisory Board and chairs 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.

David Bradford
Managing Director - Bus
National Express

David was appointed managing director of National Express bus division in 2018, after serving as commercial director since 2011. Prior to working at National Express, he was with First in the rail and North American divisions.

Nick Barton
CEO
Birmingham Airport

Nick Barton took up the appointment of Chief Executive at Birmingham Airport on 7 January 2019, having joined the Airport at an exciting time in its history following the recent announcement of the ambitious draft Master Plan covering the next 15 years. The Airport is undertaking a £500m programme to upgrade and expand capacity of the terminal operations, aircraft stands and support facilities, and meet the expected increase in passengers from 13 million to 18 million over the life of the plan.

Nick has a long track record as a successful leader with extensive experience in the Airports sector. He was previously Chief Executive at London Luton Airport, and was also part of the senior management team at London Stansted, latterly as Managing Director, as well as holding previous executive roles at BAA Plc.

Nick came into the Airport sector with over 27 years' experience of managing and leading infrastructure and property operations having been Chief Executive of a leading property asset management company.

Ben Foulser (Session Chair)
Associate Director
KPMG

Ben is an Associate Director in KPMG's Infrastructure Advisory Group and helps lead KPMG's team providing services to transport operators and authorities worldwide. His experience spans future mobility and smart transport solutions including integrated payment systems, Mobility as a Service, Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, Low and Zero Emission Vehicles, customer information services, Command & Control (including traffic management and signaling), and intelligent asset management.

Ben has written various pieces of thought leadership on integration of disruptive mobility services into existing mobility ecosystems, and is part of KPMG's team defining methodologies to help our clients define strategies and future-proof operating models.

KPMG advises clients across the technology life-cycle and associated organisational transformation programmes, from costed options appraisals and development of strategy and operating models through to requirements definition, sourcing, project management and operational assurance.

Claire Haigh
Chief Executive
Greener Journeys

Claire Haigh is Chief Executive of Greener Journeys, a coalition of the UK's major public transport groups and other supporters committed to encouraging people to make more sustainable travel choices. She is the Executive Director of the Transport Knowledge Hub; and a Director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership. She also chairs the Delivery & Impacts Independent Review Panel for the Government's Joint Air Quality Unit (DfT/Defra); and, has been an Advisor and Board Member of Transport for Greater Manchester.

Previously she was Project Director for Journey Solutions, where she was responsible for PLUSBUS. Other previous roles include Sales Director for Chameleon Press; and, Account Executive for DDB advertising agency. She read History and German at Magdalen College Oxford. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.

Christopher Hayton
Director of Corporate Affairs
East Midlands Airport

Chris joined East Midlands Airport last summer after eight years working in the water industry. He sits on the airport Management Board and is responsible for strategy, communications, corporate responsibility and surface access.

Phil Hufton
President, UK Region
Bombardier Transportation

On October 1, 2018 Phil Hufton became Head of UK, Bombardier Transportation, joining the company from Network Rail where he was Managing Director for Route Businesses, England and Wales. He became President, UK Region, on 28 March 2019.

Phil started his career in his home town of Derby as a craft apprentice with British Rail Engineering Ltd, moving to York in 1991 as Production Manager and Site Manager before returning back to Derby in the mid-1990s as Director of the Bogie Division. In 1998 he assumed responsibility for global carbody manufacturing across eleven sites in Europe and Australia. He later spent some time in the power and automation sector, as part of a $38 billion company.

Phil re-joined the transport industry in 2006 heading up track and signals at Metronet, before taking over as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and then managing the reintegration of maintenance activities back into London Underground. He joined London Underground itself as Chief Maintenance Officer and headed up the organisation's reliability improvements programme enabling the successful delivery of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

In 2013, Phil became COO and was responsible for integrating all of London Underground's maintenance and operations functions. He joined Network Rail as Managing Director for Route Businesses, England and Wales in January 2015 where he improved overall asset performance as well as delivering the devolution of Network Rail into eight route businesses.

Chris Lane
Head of Transport Innovation
Transport for West Midlands

Chris Lane is Head of Transport Innovation at Transport for West Midlands. In this role he delivers change through people, processes and technology across a portfolio of programmes, including a commercial Mobility as a Service and a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle testbed in the West Midlands. Working in transport for most of his life, he has had the opportunity to deliver significant changes to public transport. His background encompasses delivering significant Business Transformation programmes, implementing innovative ITS and ICT systems and playing a major role in the successful delivery of TfWM's Smartcard and Passenger Information schemes.

Linda McCord
Chair, West Midlands Bus Alliance
& Senior Stakeholder Manager, Transport Focus

Linda McCord is a Senior Stakeholder Manager at Transport Focus. She works with rail and bus companies across the UK campaigning on issues affecting passengers using research in particular, the National Rail and Bus Passenger Surveys to target poor performance.

She chairs the West Midlands Bus Alliance ensuring that passengers are at the heart of the Alliance's key objectives and that their voice is being heard.

Alejandro Moreno
Alliance Director
Midland Metro Alliance

Alejandro Moreno was appointed as Midland Metro Alliance Director in September 2016, to lead the alliance team of planning, design and construction specialists to build five new tram extensions across the region over the coming decade on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) with a budget of £1.35 billion.

Previously, Alejandro was the Managing Director for Scandinavia and Central Europe at Colas Rail and prior to that, the General Manager of Tranvia de Zaragoza – the public-private partnership responsible for the delivery of trams in Spain that was delivered safely, ahead of time and within budget. His 16 years' experience in rail and of delivering the catenary free sections of tram operations from 2009 is a particularly valuable asset, as the alliance looks to spearhead that technology in the United Kingdom.

Andrew Pritchard
Director of Policy and Infrastructure
East Midlands Councils

Alongside his role as Director of Policy and Infrastructure at East Midlands Councils, Andrew provides strategic advice on Midlands Connect's policy direction and approach to our long term role as a Sub-national Transport Body.

Simon Statham
Head of Technical Programmes
Midlands Connect

Simon oversees and manages the evidence base which underpins the development of Midlands Connect's priority road, rail and technology programmes. Simon spent 17 years as a transport planner in the consultancy sector before joining Midlands Connect in 2016.

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 contributor for the Transport Times blog.

Ed Thomas (Session Chair)
Partner, UK Head of Transport
KPMG

Ed leads the transport team within KPMG's Corporate Finance Infrastructure practice – a role he has held since 2010. Ed specializes in rail and has worked with all of the major private sector players in the UK market - primarily on bids for franchise contracts. He has also advised the public sector, both in the UK and overseas, on contract design issues and has recently worked with DfT on the Williams Review. Beyond franchising Ed has led a number of high profile mandates in relation to HS2. These include updating the Strategic Case for the scheme and establishing the financial impact of HS2 on the level of ongoing support to the UK rail industry required from central Government. Ed has recently advised TfGM on stations devolution, Transport for London on the Strategic Case for Crossrail 2 and is advising Network Rail on its Putting Passengers First transformation programme. Ed also supported Sir John Armitt CBE, Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, on a review of long term infrastructure planning in the UK which led to the establishment of the National Infrastructure Commission

Mark Thurston
Chief Executive
HS2

As the CEO of High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd, Mark has the privilege and ultimate responsibility for leading the company that has been charged with delivering a new high speed railway that will connect the major cities of the UK. The vision is for HS2 to be a catalyst for growth across Britain and become the backbone of Britain's rail network. It will better connect the country's major cities and economic hubs and help deliver a stronger, more balanced economy, better able to compete on the global stage. It will open up local and regional markets and will attract investment and improve job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people across the whole country. HS2 Ltd began operations in January 2009. The company currently employs around 1,600 people, with the majority of staff working at its headquarters in Birmingham.

Mark joined HS2 Ltd in March 2017; he has some 30 years' experience including leadership roles in engineering, project and programme management and business operations. Having worked for client, consulting and delivery organisations, Mark has a successful track record across a mix of major organisations and investment programmes, and worked on both the London 2012 Olympics and Crossrail. He was previously the European MD of engineering and projects company CH2M.

Mark started his career as a technician apprentice on the London Underground. He is a Visiting Professor at the Bartlett school of Construction and Project Management at UCL and an honorary fellow of both the Association for Project Management and the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Dr George Hazel OBE
Board Member and Advisor
Scottish MaaS Alliance

Dr Hazel is a Director of the George Hazel Consultancy, an Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology and Chair of the Advisory Panel for the Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University.

He was a member of the UK Secretary of State for Transport's Steering Group for National Road User Charging, chair of the World Roads Congress C10 Committee, researching urban areas and transport, chair of the Scottish Public Policy Unit's Transport Commission and Chair of Transport 2000's Forum on Revitalising Communities on Main Roads. In January 2005 he was awarded the OBE for services to transport. He is an expert on towns and city regions and has written a book on Making Cities Work, published by Wiley.

Previously he was Professor of Transport Policy at the Centre for Transport Policy where he looked after the consultancy business. From 1996 to 1999 he was Director of City Development for the City of Edinburgh Council responsible for planning, economic development, transportation and property.