Andrew Haines
Chief Executive
Network Rail

Andrew Haines was appointed as Chief Executive and Board member of Network Rail in August 2018. Prior to this, he served as Chief Executive of the Civil Aviation Authority following a wide-ranging career in the rail industry, which included roles as Managing Director of South West Trains, and Managing Director of the Rail Division for First Group plc.

Prof. David Begg (Conference Chair)
Chief Executive
Transport Times

Prof. David Begg is a non-executive board member of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, a member of the Cubic Transportation Systems' Advisory Board and a visiting professor in sustainable transport at Plymouth University. As Chief Executive of Transport Times, he also chairs the judging panel for Transport Times' annual awards shows. Previously David has been a non-executive director at TfGM, chairman of Tubes Lines, a non-executive director of First Group Ltd, a non-executive chairmain of EAMS Group and chairman of Commission for Integrated Transport.

River Tamoor Baig
Founder & Chief Executive
HackTrain

River is a technology entrepreneur, he started his career at the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) advising educational institutions across the UK on how to build entrepreneurial hubs. After leaving NACUE he worked with Lee Strafford, the founder of Plusnet, to setup Dotforge, a startup accelerator based in the north of England.

During River's time at Dotforge he invested and accelerated 30 startups over an 18-month period. He was also part of the team that secured £15m of funding from the Cabinet Office for TechNorth and the Northern TechHubs.

After spending countless hours travelling via rail across the north of England he ran the first HackTrain hackathon, an initiative designed to rapidly improve customer experience and operational efficiency of the railway. The HackTrain initiative has helped bring dozens of innovations into the hands of passengers and rail staff, changed policy around innovation through its reports, and has opened up the market to other tech entrepreneurs.

Andy Byford
Commissioner
Transport for London

Andy Byford is a transport professional whose thirty year career has spanned three continents.

Andy joined London Underground in 1989 as a uniformed Station Foreman before working his way up to General Manager of the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines.

After a spell as Operations and Safety Director of two mainline train operating companies, Andy's career took him to Sydney as Chief Operating Officer of Australia's largest railway network then on to Canada where he headed up the Toronto Transit Commission. Most recently, Andy served as President of New York City Transit, the busiest and largest transit system in North America.

Andy returned to Transport for London in June 2020 as Commissioner. He grew up in Plymouth and is a graduate of the University of Leicester.

Darren Caplan
Chief Executive
Railway Industry Association

Darren Caplan joined RIA as Chief Executive in January 2017. Since then he has led the RIA team, with a mission to promote rail supply sector growth, increase RIA's visibility amongst political and stakeholder decision makers and influencers, and ensure RIA develops into the very best trade association it can be for its members. In 2019, RIA won the "Overall Best Association" category at the Association Excellence Awards.

Prior to RIA, Darren was for six years Chief Executive of the Airport Operators Association (AOA), the trade association for UK airports and the sector's suppliers. Before the AOA, Darren worked for 14 years in communications, politics and public affairs across a number of sectors, including infrastructure, planning and technology. Darren is a lifelong and long-suffering supporter of Crystal Palace FC!

Michele Dix CBE
Managing Director
Crossrail 2

Michèle started her career at the Greater London Council (GLC) after completing her PhD in transport and land use planning and became a chartered civil engineer through the GLC's transport planning graduate scheme. She spent fifteen years in the private sector with Halcrow Fox becoming the board director for urban transport. She joined Transport for London (TfL) in 2000 as director of Congestion Charging on a job share basis with Malcolm Murray-Clark and Managing Director of Planning in 2007. Michèle led TfL's strategic thinking on the future transport needs of London, testing and challenging solutions; providing clear direction on appropriate transport solutions for the future; she was responsible for the Mayor's Transport Strategy and transport requirements for the Mayor's 2050 Infrastructure Plan; coordinating the implementation of local plans and borough partnerships; and developing major scheme interchanges. Michele is now responsible for developing Crossrail 2 and gaining funding and powers for it. Michele is a visiting professor for UCL and is a member of an international committee for the UITP which promotes public transport research and best practice globally. Most recently, Michele has joined the Major Projects Association as a Board member and has become a Trustee for the London Transport Museum.

Caroline Donaldson
Managing Director
West Coast Partnership Development

Caroline is Managing Director of West Coast Partnership Development, the 'Shadow Operator' for High Speed 2: designing, developing and mobilising high speed service operations and associated conventional services. Its goal is to maximise the benefits of the significant investment in high speed infrastructure.

Caroline joined FirstGroup as Bid Director, Rail in 2010, having previously held various positions across the transport sector, including senior positions at Network Rail and London Underground. She is a Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.

Steve Edwards
Chair, Urban Transport Group
Executive Director, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE)

As head of SYPTE Steve is responsible for public transport delivery across South Yorkshire.

During his time at SYPTE, Steve has overseen a number of work programmes including the roll-out of Voluntary Bus Partnerships across South Yorkshire, the launch of a Bus Rapid Transit service connecting Rotherham and Sheffield, the refurbishment of Rotherham Transport Interchange and the launch of the UK's First Tram Train services.

In January 2019, Steve took over as Chair of the Urban Transport Group, a network of regional transport authorities whose primary focus is to work together to ensure transport can play its full part in the economic development of metropolitan regions and to improve the lives of the people who live there.

Steve joined SYPTE in November 2015 following a successful career at Liberata UK Ltd. He has a wealth of experience in both the public and private sector, having worked in a range of service areas including business improvement, customer experience and service operations.

Prior to joining Liberata, Steve spent over 20 years at BT, working with a wide range of multinational clients from the Oil, Petrochemical and Utilities markets.

Steve has a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Kent and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Sir Peter Hendy CBE
Chair
Network Rail

Sir Peter Hendy is the Chairman of Network Rail, having joined in July 2015. Sir Peter was previously commissioner of Transport for London (TfL) in 2006, having served since 2001 as TfL's managing director of surface transport. He led, and played a key role in preparing for, the successful operation of London's transport for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He was formerly deputy director UK Bus for FirstGroup and previously MD of CentreWest London Buses. He started his transport career in 1975 as a London Transport graduate trainee. Sir Peter was elected president of the International Public Transport Association (UITP) in May 2013. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transport and a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was knighted in the 2013 New Year's Honours List, having been made CBE in 2006.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

Katy Taylor
Group Commercial & Customer Director
Go-Ahead Group

Katy has over 20 years' experience driving transformation and business growth in financial services, media, hospitality, professional services and transport. Through director-level roles at Kroll, Vneshtorgbank, IG Group and LCP, she has led change programmes in digital, data, corporate affairs, marketing, business development and organisation culture.

Katy joined Go-Ahead, the FTSE 250 international passenger transport business in 2012, and as Commercial and Customer Director, her responsibilities include; commercial development, customer experience, corporate affairs, strategy and sustainability. This includes leading culture change to focus on customers - from front line customer service delivery to digital enablement and improvements in retailing.

Katy also leads the Future of Transport strategy at Go-Ahead, including Mobility as a Service (Maas), the transport innovation accelerator hub and active travel initiatives. She is passionate about the role of public transport in underpinning the social and economic health of local communities and has led industry wide initiatives to improve air quality and tackle loneliness.

Katy is the non-executive chairman of digital ecommerce provider OnTrack Retail. She is also a founding member of the Business in the Community Place initiative; leads diversity, and customer initiatives across the rail industry through the industry body (Rail Delivery Group) and is a regular speaker on culture change, customer centricity, digital transformation and diversity in the transport sector.

She is a keen runner and the owner of a small tortoise called Flash.

Ed Thomas
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.

Allan Watt
Director of Communications
Abellio UK

Allan is Director of Communication for Abellio which operates a number of UK rail and bus franchises carrying over one million customers every day with over 16,000 employees. Abellio is investing £3bn in new buses and trains to deliver reliable, simple to use and sustainable transport for the UK.

This role follows four years as Director of The Prince's Trust Scotland. He had a long involvement with the Trust, including a secondment as interim UK Chief Executive from 2003-4. From 2000 to 2013 Allan worked for RBS with responsibility for communication, sponsorship, marketing and CSR activities in Edinburgh-based global roles and for three years in Hong Kong, as a member of the RBS Asia Pacific executive management team.

Previously he has worked as Development Director for the Wise Group, a leading employment and regeneration charity, the Scottish Development Agency and Monitor, a firm of international strategy consultants. Allan has been involved in a number of public policy and charity roles; an HM Treasury working group on Financial Inclusion, the New Deal Task Force for Northern Ireland, advisory groups on youth employability and enterprise, and non-executive roles for the Global Ethical Finance Initiative, a contemporary music ensemble and ISBA.