Andrew Jones MP
Rail Minister
Department for Transport

Andrew Jones was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport on 12 November 2018. He was Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury from 15 June 2017 to 8 January 2018.

He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Department for Transport from May 2015 to 15 June 2017. Andrew was elected the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough in May 2010.

Andrew is from Ilkley and attended Bradford Grammar School and Leeds University.

From May 2003 to May 2011 Andrew was a local councillor on Harrogate Borough Council, representing the High Harrogate ward. He was also Cabinet Member for Resources from May 2003 to May 2010.

Since being elected in 2010, Andrew has been a Parliamentary Private Secretary on the health, business and transport teams. He has also chaired the Northern Electrification Taskforce which provided the Secretary of State for Transport with advice on the next steps for electrification of railways in the North of England.

Before working in politics Andrew worked in sales and marketing for Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate.

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.

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 public sector clients in the UK and overseas on franchising transactions and issues of contract design. 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 and Transport for London on the Strategic Case for Crossrail 2. 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

David Williams (Session Chair)
Partner, Advisory
KPMG LLP

David is a member of KPMG's transport leadership group and for the past fifteen years has specialised in the transport industry, predominantly in the rail and bus sectors. David has worked on a number of financial transactions in the transport sector as well as gaining experience on restructuring projects. His key area of expertise is in providing commercial advice and market insight, as well as leading engagements covering areas such as business planning, financial analysis and forecasting. David has advised public sector, central government and regional transport bodies on a number of high profile projects, including an independent strategic 'Value for Money' review of the London bus market for Transport for London.

David Sidebottom (Session 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.

Keith Williams
Independent Chair
Williams Rail Review

Keith has experience of finance and executive and non-executive roles in transport. He is a Chartered Accountant and previously Treasurer, CFO, CEO and Chairman of British Airways and Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair of Transport for London.
He has also worked in consumer facing businesses – particularly as Deputy Chair of John Lewis and businesses with large workforces – at British Airways, at John Lewis and Royal Mail plc.

John Larkinson
Chief Executive
ORR

John's previous role at the ORR was as Director of Railway Markets and Economics, responsible for the 2018 periodic review of Network Rail, the ORR's consumer role, decisions on track and station access and industry financial analysis, and leading on policy issues for Scotland and Wales.

He previously held a number of senior roles at ORR, including director of Planning and Performance and Director of Economic Regulation. He joined ORR from the Strategic Rail Authority where his final role was as Director Network Regulation & Affordability.

He is an economist by background and has held a range of transport related posts in central government and consultancy.

He has been an executive member of the ORR board since March 2017

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.

Prof. Andrew McNaughton
Senior Adviser
HS2

Since 2009 Andrew has led the specification, operational design, transport strategy and route development of HS2, the £55bn British high speed rail programme. He was Principal Witness before Parliament for the first phase Bill. He chairs the International Railway Union (UIC) World High Speed Rail Committee and advises other Governments on HSR and allied transport policy.

Prior to this he was Chief Engineer of Network Rail, accountable for overall safety and specification of the British rail network and chairing its investment committee. He chaired the EU Rail Research Council and the UIC Infrastructure Commission, and was vice chair of the EU Transport Advisory Group.

This followed a rail engineering, operational and general management career which started in 1973.

Andrew is an honorary professor of rail engineering at Nottingham University and a visiting professor of engineering at both Imperial College, London and Southampton University.

Frazer Henderson
Head of High Speed and Cross Border Rail Policy
Transport Scotland

Frazer Henderson is currently Head of High Speed and Cross Border Rail Policy at Transport Scotland. Since joining the Scottish Administration in 2004 he has been responsible for policy, promotion and production of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 (which created regional transport partnerships and established the Scottish Road Works Commissioner), the Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007, the Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Act 2008, the Forth Crossing Act 2011 (enabling the construction of the Queensferry Crossing) and latterly Head of Rail Policy where he lead the specification for the successful letting of the ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper franchises.

His interest in transport is long-standing; he vividly recalls his first job, in the 1980s, which involved test-driving the then revolutionary Sinclair C5!

Nick Hughes
Sales Director
Bombardier/Hitachi JV

Representing Hitachi Rail and Bombardier's HS2 JV, Nick leads the sales division for Hitachi Rail in the UK. He has over 20 years' experience delivering equipment and services across the rail sector.

Steve Montgomery
Managing Director - UK Rail
First Group

Steve's career in the railway industry spans almost 30 years, during which time he has gained significant experience in all aspects of rail management. He started his working life with British Rail and held various senior posts before becoming Operations and Safety Director at ScotRail, coinciding with FirstGroup taking over the franchise in 2004. He was appointed Managing Director of First ScotRail in 2009. Under his leadership, First ScotRail achieved the highest ever levels of customer satisfaction and punctuality in the franchise's history and won countless awards including Rail Operator of the Year in 2014 and Scottish Public Transport Operator of the Year in both 2012 and 2013.

Neil Connor
Client Executive Transport Operators
Fujitsu UK

Neil currently heads up Fujitsu's Transport Operator business across the UK. Within this role Neil brings his depth and breadth of expertise working across both private sector customers in Rail and Bus alongside his work with the public sector and his relationship with the Department for Transport and other key stakeholder groups such as the Rail Delivery Group. A working technical and commercial knowledge of digitising transport infrastructure and operations as providers pursue more passenger-centric solutions. Prior to joining Fujitsu, Neil was seconded to the Department of Transport in their procurement team to design a group procurement operating model, ultimately gaining executive endorsement. Previously to this Neil gained experience from management roles leading a range of innovative partnerships and business development activities within BT Global Services, Syntegra and Digital Equipment Company.

Mike Tuckett
Head of Technology & Data - Payments
Transport for London

Mike has worked in the transport arena since 1990, joining the team responsible for delivering Oyster in 1998. He led the project and commercial negotiations that brought the London Train Operating companies into the Oyster scheme in 2010, and then sponsored TfL's "Future Ticketing Project" which successfully launched the acceptance of contactless payment cards and mobiles for pay as you go travel across the TfL and London Train Operating company network in September 2014.

John Hill
Advisor
Cubic Transportation Systems

John has worked in the public transportation ticketing sector for 20 years. He joined Cubic in 2000 and became the Programme Director responsible for rolling out Oyster in London in 2003/2004. In recent years he led Cubic's work on open payments in London culminating in the system-wide launch of Contactless in September 2014 and he negotiated a licensing deal allowing Cubic to use TfL's Contactless Back Office intellectual property world-wide. John is now semi-retired but keeps a close eye on developments in the industry and is particularly interested in the DfT public consultation on Pay-As-You-Go rail travel and RDG's proposals for a simpler fare system on rail in the UK.

Barry White
Chief Executive
Transport for the North

Barry leads the development and delivery of Transport for the North's Strategic Transport Plan and provides strategic leadership to deliver the organisation's vision of a thriving North of England where modern transport connections drive economic growth and support an excellent quality of life.

He is accountable for the overall performance of the organisation, its integrity and activities.

Heidi Alexander
Deputy Mayor of London for Transport

Heidi Alexander was appointed as Sadiq Khan's Deputy Mayor for Transport in June 2018. Before joining the Mayor's team Heidi was the Member of Parliament for Lewisham East from 2010-2018. She served in the Whips' Office before being appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Health. Between 2006 and 2010 Heidi worked as Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham and Cabinet Member for Regeneration.

Prof. Mark Barry
Professor of Practice in Connectivity
Cardiff University

Mark has a degree in Physics and 30 years international experience in transport, economic development, biotech, IT and finance. In 2011, his report, "A Metro for Wales' Capital City Region" was published by The Cardiff Business Partnership and Institute of Welsh Affairs. From 2013 to 2016 Mark led Metro Development for the Welsh Government and helped secure commitment to progress the project at the end of 2015. The contract to design and build the Metro was awarded by Welsh Government in 2018. He is also Professor of Practice in Connectivity at Cardiff University where he is helping develop research around impacts of the South Wales Metro. He is also leading a strategic study for Welsh Ministers to support further rail infrastructure investment in Wales. Mark has also been part of a number of Welsh Government Task and Finish groups; in 2007 he was part of a review of IP commercialisation in Welsh HE and 2013/14 was a member of the Newport Task Force. Mark also runs his own consultancy.

Simon Kirby
Senior Advisor
The Nichols Group

Simon Kirby is a Senior Advisor at Nichols Group. Advising on large, iconic programmes, complex projects & major business change initiatives, operating in a wide range of industries. He is also an advisor to Private Equity backed infrastructure projects.

Prior to this, Simon was Chief Operating Officer for Rolls-Royce plc.

Simon was Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, the company accountable for development, construction and operation of the new UK High Speed Rail network.

Before HS2, Simon was at Network Rail where he was a Board member and Managing Director of Infrastructure Projects. He was responsible for the delivery of all their large enhancement and renewal infrastructure projects.

Before then, he held various positions in the defence industry within Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, GEC Marconi and BAE Systems.

Simon is also a board director of the Major Projects Association. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers (FICE), the Association of Project Management (APM) and John Moores University.