SPEAKERS

Mary Creagh MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

First elected as MP for Wakefield in 2005 Mary has been Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport since October 2013 and was Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment between 2010 and 2013. She forced the Government to abandon their plans to sell off England’s forests and held the Government to account during the horsemeat crisis. She leads Labour’s campaign on the impact of rising bus and rail fares on the cost of living. In Government, she served as a Whip in the Health Department in 2009/10 and as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andy Burnham in the Department of Health, the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Before Parliament, Mary taught entrepreneurship at Cranfield University’s School of Management where she worked with the founder of Moonpig.com and other fast growth SMEs. She also launched a new web-based modular MBA and helped redesign the MBA programme. Mary was a councillor in Islington 1998 – 2005 and Leader of the Labour Group 2000 - 2004. She spent four years in Brussels working for an international NGO.  Born in Coventry, she attended the local comprehensive school and has degrees from Oxford (Modern Languages) and the LSE (European Studies).

Professor David Begg, Chief Executive, Transport Times (Chair)

Professor David Begg is Chief Executive of Portobello Partnership 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 and a former board member of First Group plc.

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.

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 Brown, Chief Executive, Go-Ahead Group Plc

David is Chief Executive of The Go-Ahead Group.  Go-Ahead is one of the UK’s leading providers of quality public transport employing over 23,500 people and carrying more than one billion passengers each year on its trains and buses.  Go-Ahead has a 30% share of all rail passenger journeys made in the UK on its three train operating companies.  It operates bus companies across the UK from as far afield as Newcastle to Plymouth and is the largest bus operator in London.

David has held a number of senior positions in the transport industry including MD of Berks Bucks Bus Co Ltd, Chief Executive of Go-Ahead’s London Bus division and MD for Surface Transport at Transport for London.  At TfL he had a diverse range of responsibilities including London Buses (one of the world's largest urban bus networks), managing London's Red Route road network, congestion charging, and he introduced the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme.

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.  Her other current roles include: Director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, and Advisor on the Board of Transport for Greater Manchester.  She is also a regular columnist for the monthly magazine Transport Times. 

Claire was previously Project Director for Journey Solutions, where she was responsible for the creation and implementation of PLUSBUS – the national integrated bus/rail ticket.  Other previous roles include Sales Director for the Chameleon Press printing company.  She read History and German at Magdalen College Oxford, and began her career in advertising working as an Account Executive for DDB.  Her interests include her work as an artist, for which she has had several solo exhibitions in central London.  She also has links with a number of charitable organisations including CRISIS, for which she is a Community Ambassador.

She is Chartered Fellow (FCILT) of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a Fellow of (FRSA) of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce.

Giles Fearnley, Managing Director – UK Bus, FirstGroup Plc

 In 1991 Giles Fearnley led the 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” into the rail industry and was one of the founders of Prism Rail PLC, which came to operate four passenger rail franchises in the UK. He was appointed its Chief Executive in 1997 and led the Group prior to its sale in 2000 to National Express.  Most recently he served as Chairman of Grand Central, the open access rail operator prior to its sale to DB in 2011.

Until January 2011 Giles was Chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, having also been a past President of the organisation.  He is also past Chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies.  He formerly chaired Journey Solutions, the bus and rail industry initiative to promote integration and also chairs Greener Journeys, the UK bus and coach industry’s campaign to promote modal shift from cars to buses and coaches.

Giles joined FirstGroup in February 2011 as its Managing Director responsible for their UK Bus division which:

• Has 6,500 buses
• Around 21% of UK market share outside London
• transports 2.3 million passengers a day
• 17,500 employees.

Jon Lamonte, Chief Executive, Transport for Greater Manchester

Jon Lamonte joined Transport for Greater Manchester as CEO in 2013.  His portfolio covers rail, bus, tram, highways, cycling and other forms of active transport.  He contributes to the broad community in Greater Manchester through his role with the Wider Leadership Team comprising of Chief Executives of the districts, Chief Constable, Chief Fire Officer and New Economy. 

Jon Lamonte was the CEO of Tube Lines from 2011 – 12, including the critical period of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tube Lines, as part of Transport for London, was responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the Underground infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. This includes track, trains, signals and stations.

Jon joined from the Royal Air Force where he fulfilled a number of senior operational roles and led major project delivery. His most recent role was Chief of Staff, Strategy, Policy and Plans, which included co-leading the strategic defence and security review into the maritime programme for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This identified considerable savings opportunities from the current structure and planned procurement of the Royal Navy over the next decade, whilst producing a coherent and viable force capable of meeting a range of scenarios into the future.

Prior to this Jon was Director General Finance for Defence Equipment and Support, the MoD’s £17bn a year procurement and logistics organisation. Other roles included running the RAF’s largest base, Brize Norton, with over 4,500 people and three fleets of transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft.  He served in the Falklands, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia.

An active member of the Institute of Directors, Jon has strong experience in leading change, driving efficiency and motivating large workforces.  He achieved a PhD in History from Birmingham University in 2011.