Baroness Vere
Minister with Responsibility for Buses
DfT

Baroness Vere of Norbiton was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport on 23 April 2019. She was previously a Government Whip (Baroness in Waiting) from 21 December 2016 to 26 July 2019.

Before entering politics, Charlotte spent 4 years as the Executive Director of the Girls' Schools Association, including 6 months as the General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council. Prior to that she was the CEO of Big White Wall, an online mental health service, and Finance Director at Recruit Media, a digital recruitment agency. Her early career was spent in investment banking.

David Brown
Chief Executive
Go-Ahead

David Brown is Group Chief Executive of The Go-Ahead Group, one of the UK's leading public transport providers. The Group, which was established over 30 years ago now employs over 28,000 people and carries more than one billion passengers each year on its trains and buses. Go-Ahead's rail operations, GTR and Southeastern, are responsible for around 30% of all UK train passenger journeys and its bus services run from Plymouth to Newcastle, as well as operating a quarter of all London's buses. Go-Ahead has an expanding international footprint operating buses in Singapore and Ireland, and rail contracts in Germany and Norway from November 2019.

David was previously Chief Executive of Go-Ahead's London Bus division and MD for Surface Transport at Transport for London. At TfL his responsibilities included London Buses and the Red Route road network, congestion charging, and the introduction of the capital's cycle hire scheme. He has 35 years experience working across both the public and private sectors delivering transport solutions. David is a Board member of the Rail Delivery Group and Non-Executive Director of Renew Holdings plc.

Lynn Cramman
Business Development Manager
Cobalt Business Park

Lynn Cramman is the Business Development Manager at Cobalt Business Park, since starting the role in 2006 she has seen the park grow from 5000 to 14,000 staff. By working closely with the local council on plans for infrastructure improvements and bus operators in the North East, Cobalt now has 12 direct bus services connecting staff to 40 key destinations around the region. Lynn has been involved in many travel projects over the years including the most recent trial of travel tracking through the sites exclusive app.

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.

Andy Eastlake - Session Chair
Managing Director
LowCVP

Andy Eastlake was appointed as the LowCVP's Managing Director in April 2012, after serving both on the board and as chair of the members council for many years. Andy has a strong background in vehicle engineering, specialising in powertrain developments, fuel economy and emission. He was formerly Group Head of Commercial and Projects at Millbrook Proving Ground where he led the work on powertrain test and development programmes and alternative fuels for a variety of global OEM customers. As head of laboratories Andy was responsible for all technical aspects of the Millbrook business and for government and European legislative relations. He joined Millbrook after a year's training with Vauxhall Motors by whom he was sponsored to study for a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University. He is a Fellow of the Institution of the Mechanical Engineers and was formerly a Board member of CENEX the Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon & Fuel Cell Technologies.

Pete Ferguson
CEO
Prospective

As CEO of Prospective, Pete leads a team of data scientists, software engineers and transport experts from UCL, Cambridge and the Alan Turing Institute in the development of a cloud platform for urban planning. Backed by the UK government following a major national competition, the company has developed a continuously up to date picture of the UK's transport network, development supply and land use activity and the tools to quickly process and analyse this data at scale. The platform has already been used to help major government, real estate and transport organisations to quickly test many alternative planning policies, development plans and operational strategies in the early stages of the design process.

Prospective's founding team includes urban analytics pioneers Professor Sir Alan Wilson (CEO of the Alan Turing Institute) and Professor Mike Batty (UCL Professor of Planning) and experts in systems modelling, Machine Learning and the use of cloud technologies for geospatial analysis.

Pete has been working across the transport, real estate and planning sectors for 12 years with a focus on the development and application of novel data analytics and modelling tools.
He is an Honorary Research Associate at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at UCL where he is undertaking doctoral research in network science and where he has published widely on the impacts of transport network design on energy consumption and carbon emissions in cities.

Stephen Fidler - Session Chair
Director of Local Transport
DfT

Stephen is Director for Local Transport at the Department for Transport. His directorate is responsible for the Major Road Network, local roads, buses and taxis, inclusive transport, cycling and walking and local authority transport infrastructure projects. It also includes two analytical teams who work closely with their policy counterparts and produce influential statistics, evidence and analysis including the world-leading National Travel Survey.

Stephen has worked on transport issues across central government for over 20 years, including in the then Department for the Environment and the No 10 Policy Unit. Before starting his current role in June 2019, Stephen headed the department's client team for Highways England – leading on the £15bn Road Investment Strategy and major projects including the A14 Cambridge-Huntingdon and A303(Stonehenge) schemes.

Stephen received an OBE for services to transport in the 2019 New Year Honours List and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation.

Mark Fowles
Managing Director
Nottingham City Transport

Mark Fowles trained and worked as an electronics engineer before returning to university to study Environmental Sciences. He was employed as an analytical chemist with the Ministry of Agriculture before joining National Bus's senior management training scheme in November 1984. In 1994 he moved from Yorkshire Woollen to Nottingham City Transport (NCT) as Deputy MD where he lead NCT's successful bid for the construction and operation of Nottingham Express Transit (NET) scheme.

Mark became MD of NCT in the autumn of 2000 and in 2001 restructured the company to accommodate the introduction of NET Line One. This change has produced year on year passenger growth allowing massive investment in the company's operational bus fleet. The average age of the fleet today, at 4.5 years, is less than half of what was when he became MD.

Mark has been The Chair of Traveline for the last ten years. He has made a special study of Operational Management obtaining his MBA in this subject in 1989. He is a Fellow of the RSA and remains a committed environmentalist.

Jane Gratton
Head of People Policy
British Chambers of Commerce

Jane is Head of People Policy at the BCC. She has worked at the BCC since 2017 and has led on business environment policy including skills, transport and infrastructure. She was the BCC's Planning Policy Fellow from 2015-2017. Prior to joining the BCC, Jane was Deputy Chief Executive at the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, heading up the policy team and overseeing strategic partnerships.

Lilian Greenwood MP
Nottingham South

Lilian Greenwood was elected as MP for Nottingham South in 2010, and was appointed to the Transport Select Committee in the same year. In 2011 Lilian became Shadow Local Transport Minister, before moving on to the role of Shadow Rail Minister in January 2013. During this time Lilian campaigned successfully for the widening of the A453 and extensions to Nottingham's tram network.

Lilian was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in September 2015, becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, and retained the Transport brief until her resignation in June 2016.

In July 2017 Lilian was elected Chair of the Transport Select Committee, a role she held until November 2019. As Chair, Lilian was committed to ensuring that the needs of all transport users were addressed, particularly those whose voices are least heard by decision-makers.

As the out-going Chair of the Committee, Lilian remains passionate about transport policy and will continue to fight for better, safer and more sustainable transport for everyone in this new Parliament.

She remains a strong advocate for electrification of the Midland Main Line

Claire Haigh
Chief Executive
Greener Journeys

Claire Haigh is Chief Executive of Greener Journeys, a coalition of the UK's major public transport groups committed to encouraging people to make more sustainable travel choices. She also chairs the Delivery & Impacts Independent Review Panel for the Government's Joint Air Quality Unit (DfT/Defra); is the Executive Director of the Transport Knowledge Hub; is a Director and the Vice Chair of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership; and has been a Board Member of Transport for Greater Manchester. Previously she was Project Director for Journey Solutions, where she was responsible for the creation, implementation and roll-out of PLUSBUS the first national multi-operator bus-rail ticket.

Simon Jeffrey
Policy Officer
Centre for Cities

Simon Jeffrey is Policy Officer at Centre for Cities.

As well as overseeing the broader policy agenda, Simon is the policy lead on devolution and transport. He focuses on the introduction and development of metro mayors and how cities can improve urban mobility to support more jobs, more housing and higher wages.

Simon joined Centre for Cities in 2013, originally working on the Centre's events programme. He previously worked at the think tank Progress and has a degree in Politics at the University of York.

Linda McCord - Session Chair
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.

Ojay McDonald
Chief Executive
Association of Town & City Management

Ojay McDonald is the Chief Executive of the Association of Town & City Management. He works with Government Ministers, parliamentarians, economic development professionals, business leaders and place-makers across the UK and Ireland to support town and city centres. He works on a range of policy issues including tax reform, local government finance, the EU and UN Urban Agenda, devolution, the Northern Powerhouse, transport, housing, planning, retail and urban regeneration.

Ojay has sat on the retail policy group for the Federation of Small Businesses, the Top Issues Council of the International Downtown Association, has contributed to the outputs of both the Portas Review and the Future High Street Forum, was lead author of the non-judicial parliamentary inquiry 'High Street Britain 2015', coordinates the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Town Centres, lectures at the Manchester Metropolitan University, is a former Director of the Institute of Place Management and has a Masters Degree in Politics.

Laura Murdoch
Director for Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel
Transport Scotland

I joined Transport Scotland as Director of Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel (a newly created role) in September 2018. Before joining I had been working for many years in various roles at the Department for Education, most recently on delivering the free schools programme. As well as central UK and Scottish government, I have also worked for the Director of Children's Services at Tower Hamlets local authority in London on service review and improvement.

As Director of Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel I oversee the delivery of an ambitious policy agenda working with delivery partners and operators to improve sustainable, accessible transport options and get the travelling public back on the buses, walking, cycling and wheeling. We also operate the concessionary travel scheme for disabled and older people and are working with operators to ensure all journeys on Scotland's bus, rail, ferry, subway and tram networks can be accessed using some form of smart ticketing or payment

Gareth Powell
Managing Director – Surface Transport
TfL

Gareth Powell has been Managing Director, Surface Transport at Transport for London since 2017. He has overall responsibility for the safe day-to-day operation and improvement of London's bus network, roads, the Overground rail network, trams, the Docklands Light Railway, cycle hire, and for congestion and emissions charging. Since joining TfL from consultancy firm Atkins in 2003, Gareth has delivered significant change, innovation and service improvement in a range of senior roles, including Director of Business Planning & Performance, Director of Strategy & Service Development at London Underground, and Director of Public Transport & TfL Strategy.

Cllr Liam Robinson
Transport Portfolio Holder
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Cllr Liam Robinson is a Liverpool City Labour Councillor, who has represented the Kensington and Fairfield Ward since 2008. He was elected Chair of Merseytravel in June 2012 and has subsequently been appointed Portfolio Holder for Transport for the Liverpool City Region by Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Combined Authority. Merseytravel is the delivery arm for transport of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Cllr Robinson has key roles in strategic transport groups, including having been a founder Board Member of Transport for the North, Rail North and having chaired the City Regions Transport Special Interest Group.

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 young people up to their 19th birthday, which has led to a 168% growth in Young Persons Journeys. He has also lead the procurement of a brand new fleet of publicly owned trains for the Merseyrail network including pioneering disability access features.

Cllr Robinson has spent all his career working in public transport having held management positions in the Rail, Bus and Coach Industries including having managed 3 of Britain's largest railway stations: Liverpool Lime Street, London Liverpool Street and Sheffield.

Anthony Smith - Session Chair
Chief Executive
Transport Focus

Anthony Smith is the Chief Executive of Passenger Focus. 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 Passenger Focus, Anthony was deputy and acting director of ICSTIS, the regulator of premium rate telephone services.

Tom Thackray
Director of Infrastructure and Energy
CBI

Tom Thackray leads the CBI's policy work on infrastructure and energy, aiming to improve business connectivity and ensuring the UK maintains a secure, affordable and low-carbon supply of energy. In his time at the CBI Tom has held a variety of roles including leading the CBI's Innovation and Enterprise teams, covering policy issues relevant to small and medium-sized businesses and the digital and creative industries. He is an experienced advisor to government and has contributed to Ministerial groups on research and innovation, cybersecurity and small business. Prior to joining the CBI Tom worked in public affairs consultancy in Brussels and London.

Mark Threapleton
Chief Operations Officer
Stagecoach

Mark has worked in the transport industry all his working life, starting in 1976 with South Yorkshire PTE.

He joined Stagecoach in 1996 as Operations Director in Manchester before becoming Operations Director for the UK Bus Division in 2000.

Mark then became Managing Director Manchester from 2002 – 2010 before moving to London to become Managing Director.

Mark became Stagecoach UK Bus Managing Director – England & Wales in April 2017, which led to his current role of Chief Operating Officer as of 2019.

David Tucker
Chair
Federation of Small Businesses Transport Policy Unit

David Tucker is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Highways and Transportation. David has been a principal partner of specialist transportation consultancies for over 30 years and founded David Tucker Associates, who are based in Henley-in-Arden, in 1999. David is Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses' National Transport Policy Committee.

David has extensive experience in the planning, design and construction of a wide variety of transport projects in both the public and private sector and specialises in highways, traffic and transportation planning and design, including traffic and environmental impact studies. His experience includes project appraisal, master planning, scheme development, statutory procedures, training, preparation of planning, highways and transport agreements, presentation of expert evidence and scheme implementation. David has been involved in many projects including port development, new transport infrastructure, wind energy parks, urban redevelopment, rail freight facilities, new settlements, industrial, commercial, residential, retail, health, leisure and education related developments.

Graham Vidler
Chief Executive
CPT

Prior to joining CPT Graham worked in a wide variety of roles in financial services, most recently as Director of External Affairs for the workplace pensions trade body, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. He has also worked as a researcher in both the House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament, led the policy team at Which? and, as Director of Communications, was a member of the start-up team which created the UK's largest pension scheme, NEST.

Gerard Whelan
Director, Corporate Finance, Government and Infrastructure
KPMG

Gerard is a consulting economist with 25 years of experience leading and working with multi-disciplinary project and client teams on transport strategy and transport investment opportunities. Prior to joining KPMG he was a Divisional Director at SYSTRA, the transport consultancy business of SNCF and RATP, and before that a Senior Lecturer in Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the University of Leeds. He provides advice across the transport sector on market regulation, competition economics, pricing and charges, cost and performance benchmarking, economic impact assessment and business case development.