Mobilise | Transforming Transport Through Tech

Jonathan Smart

Dispute Resolution and Litigation Partner and Head of Mobility Sector, Shoosmiths

Jonathan is a partner and head of Shoosmiths’ mobility sector, overseeing the firm’s growth across automotive, rail, aviation, marine, logistics and the future of transport. 
Jonathan specialises in advising on complex, high value commercial disputes. This is alongside supporting major automotive manufacturers and IT companies, including Volkswagen Group, Three Mobile, Mercedes Benz, Hewlett Packard and Honda Motor Europe. Jonathan is also a member of the Society for Computers and Law.
 

---

Michael Hurwitz

Partner | Energy, Mobility & Innovation, PA Consulting

Michael is an internationally recognised leader in the future of mobility, energy and corporate innovation. He brings a rare mix of experience in national government, city leadership, commercial innovation and the cutting edge of rapidly scaling tech. For the UK Government he created and led the UK’s national programmes on low carbon transport, electromobility and autonomous vehicles. At Transport for London he led future mobility policy and operations, a ground-breaking commercial innovation programme, and work on resilience during COVID. Following a period at EV startup Arrival, pursuing a radical mission to deliver sustainable manufacturing and zero-emission solutions for cities, he is now Partner and PA Consulting, specialising in the transition to clean energy and sustainable mobility. He is also a Fellow at LocalGlobe venture capital, providing support and advice to some of Europe’s most exciting tech companies; and was previously Policy Fellow at the Energy Futures Lab, Imperial College London.

---

Russell Willans

Data and Digital Transformation Director, Great British Railways Transition Team

Russell Willans leads the Great British Railways Transition Team’s Digital & Data Services work, focused on designing the role that digital and data will play in creating a better, simpler railway. 
Before joining GBRTT, Russell was Chief Technology Officer at Heathrow, leading the innovation team and responsible for developing and implementing the Airport’s technology strategy.   
In his earlier career, Russell worked for PepsiCo where he headed up the Architecture function for one of their regions, as well as for Gatwick where he performed a CTO role. 
 

---

Dr Joanna White

Director for Roads Development, National Highways

Dr Joanna White is the Acting Director for Roads Development at National Highways leading a division focussed on intelligent transport systems (ITS), energy and road design. The Division is responsible for setting and updating standards, providing technical assurance, advice and leading research and innovation activities.
Following her PhD in Mathematics where she developed mathematical models for traffic networks, Jo started her career in 1999 at TRL working as a Researcher. One of her first projects was to demonstrate how mobile phone data could be used to produce information about movements on transport networks and undertook. 6 years later she joined the Highways Agency as a Senior ITS Engineer in the Traffic and Travel Systems Group.
She led the M42 Active Traffic Management Monitoring, investigated how smart motorways and ramp metering could operate together and set up the ITS Radar service. Jo was promoted in 2007 to the Team Leader of the Technology Programme Performance team, responsible for overseeing the business’s £250m Technology Programme. She took a couple of years out to have children and then changed roles in April 2012 to lead the National Operational Systems team, looking after all the systems that the Traffic Officers use to manage traffic and incidents.
In 2014 she returned to the standards and research part of the organisation leading the Intelligent Transport Systems group. She led teams who develop and maintain standards for operational technology, improve operational systems and research future vehicle technology. This included delivering successful connected and automated vehicle trials in collaboration with industry partners to inform the connected services roadmap, one of the elements of the Digital Roads vision. In February 2020, she became a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineering and Technology. This has been an excellent foundation for her to step up to lead the Roads Development Division.
Jo is also a member of the Editorial Board for Transport + Energy, the Expert Advisory Panel for the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, RoadSafe’s Traffic Technology Thinktank, and she is the Chair of Bristol University’s Department of Engineering Maths Industrial Advisory Board.

---

Richard Catterson

Head of Transport Strategy & Marketing, Thales

Richard is the head of UK Transport Strategy and Marketing for Thales Ground Transportation Systems (GTS), a global player in the urban and mainline markets, providing leading edge signalling and telecommunications systems which deliver safer, greener and lower cost railways.  In his role he is responsible for working with Thales global product lines to deliver these world class next generation solutions and know-how into the UK transport sector, working closely with Thales customers to redefine their operations. 

With prior experience in the energy sector, Richard has a keen understanding of the challenges of decarbonising the transport sector and advocates for the need for greater collaboration and an integrated approach if we are to deliver the technologies that will drive modal shift of passengers and freight. 
 

---

Michelle Craven-Faulkner

Partner, Shoosmiths

Michelle is a commercial partner and leads Shoosmiths’ national rail team that is supporting projects for clients across the breadth of the supply chain, whether in relation to rolling stock, infrastructure or public policy
Michelle’s strong background in the rail industry, having worked in-house for many years, means that she has significant experience relating to procurement regimes and advising clients on public procurement rules and requirements. She is also in regular dialogue with the rail team at the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Transport and, increasingly, the Great British Railways Transition Team. 
A regular speaker at industry events, and hosting a series of podcasts on different aspects of the rail sector, Michelle has been the vice-chair of the Rail Forum for 18 years.
 

---

Dr Phil Evans

Market Development Director, Transport, Capita

Phil is Capita’s Market Development Director for transport & Account Director for NATS. As a domain expert he provides business development and strategy expertise with a focus on new technologies, innovation and digital transformation. He fully supports the ‘whole system approach’ to shaping the future of our places by working collaboratively with Government, regulators, the utility sector, the transport sector amongst others for the benefit of all citizens. He is an advocate of Mobility as a Service and how it can support the concept of the 30-minute rural community. These communities are often overlooked but face significant challenges regarding transport. He has a personal interest in doughnut economics which explores the link between the planetary boundaries and the UN sustainability goals and how businesses, cities and Government can adopt this methodology to drive business performance whilst at the same time respecting our social and ecological boundaries

---

Natasha McCormack

Strategy & Policy Officer, Rail, Transport North East

Natasha has led on a number of projects within transport such as the North East Rail and Metro Strategy working with Transport North East partners, Nexus. 

She is also the lead for Washington Wearside Loop and future extension studies for rail and Metro within the North East. Natasha is passionate about improving rail travel for people giving access to opportunities for education, employment, health services and socially what rail can do for people.

Natasha leads advising on strategy and policy within the North East Rail Management Unit which acts as the focal point for the whole industry to inform and share Transport North East’s news and plans going forward
 

---

John Pinkstone

Group Project Manager (E&M), Nexus

John has recently been appointed as Senior Project Manager for the Washington Metro Loop Project, having previously worked as Group Project Manager in Nexus’s Renewals department. In this role, John led a team of project managers and oversaw a range of infrastructure projects including bridge replacements, track renewals and station refurbishments across the Tyne and Wear Metro network. Before joining Nexus, John worked for Network Rail and delivered enhancements to 14 stations along the north-east spur of the Crossrail route.
 

---

Luke Nipen

Head of Stakeholder Engagement (Phase One North), HS2

Luke is the Head of Stakeholder Engagement (Phase One North) for HS2 Ltd. Luke has worked on the HS2 project for over six years and during that time has covered engagement for HS2 in both rural and urban settings. Luke manages the how tier one contractors and HS2 Ltd’s engagement teams deliver HS2’s ‘Respecting People, Respecting Places’ strategy in the West Midlands. 

---

George Ivanov

Head of International Policy and Government Affairs, Waymo

No bio provided

---

Charlotte Wills

Director, Portland Communications

Charlotte has worked as a strategic communications and engagement adviser in the real estate and infrastructure industry for almost 10 years. She has advised on some of the country’s highest-profile, complex, and contentious issues and projects, working with clients to not only protect and enhance their reputations but to genuinely engage with the communities in which they operate. 

---

Lisa Johnson

UK Public Affairs Director, Starship Technologies

Lisa Johnson is the UK Public Affairs Director for Starship Technologies, the world's leading autonomous delivery company. Spanning the last two decades, Lisa has worked in local government, policy and public affairs. Over the last year she has been responsible for engagement and collaboration with local authorities across the UK on how to provide Starship’s innovative delivery solution in local areas in order to provide a unique and popular service while helping Councils to reduce their Carbon emissions.

---

Professor Sarah Sharples

Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Transport

Professor Sarah Sharples is Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport. She is a Professor of Human Factors in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham and from 2018 to 2021 was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People.
She has led research in transport, manufacturing and healthcare, and currently leads the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Connected Everything Network Plus.
She founded and is co-director of the EPSRC Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), and has led research programmes examining implementation of new technologies in rail, highways and aviation.
She was President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors from 2015 to 2016.
 

---

Darren Capes

ITS Policy Lead, Department for Transport

Darren Capes FIET FIHE is Intelligent Transport Systems Policy Lead at the Department for Transport and focuses on the adoption of emerging vehicle, infrastructure and data technologies by the UK’s highway authorities. Darren has over 30 years’ experience working in Local and Central Government. A qualified civil engineer, his current role involves leading ITS policy at the Department for Transport and focusses on supporting local authorities in engaging with the Future of Transport agenda and ensuring the UK’s road authorities are prepared for the challenges to come. Darren has a particular interest in emerging transport technologies and the readiness of local highway authorities. He is a Fellow of both the IHE and IET, manages the UK’s Transport Technology Forum on behalf of the DfT and is a member of the ITS World Congress Programme Committee. As well as sitting on the Board of LCRIG, Darren is Junior Vice President elect of the IHE, Chair the IET’s National Transport Policy Panel and a board member of ITS(UK).
 

---

Cathy Chen

Manager, KPMG

As an energy transition policy specialist with ten years of experience designing award-winning policies and programs at the local, provincial, national, and international levels, Cathy applies an interdisciplinary lens toward assessing the socioeconomic impacts of energy transitions. In her current capacity as Manager at KPMG in the UK, Cathy is advising clients globally on climate, transport, and energy related policies and business opportunities. Previously, Cathy was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Government of Canada for five years developing and advancing Canada’s energy policy priorities through the lens of innovation, investment, and international collaboration to move the needle on decarbonisation. She has designed and implemented a first-of-a-kind public-private financing program with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which includes transport decarbonisation as a thematic focus. Cathy also served as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources covering high-profile and fast-moving priorities across the mining, energy, and forestry sectors, including just transition, electric vehicle, and grid infrastructure policies. She has also advised on energy, sustainability and climate change issues at the United Nations, Barclays, and the New York City Mayor’s Office. Throughout these projects, she has brokered public-private partnerships and collaborated with stakeholders at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy.

: https://www.weforum.org/people/cathy-chen

---

Liz James

Senior Security Consultant, NCC Group

No bio provided

---

Nimmi Patel

Head of Skills, Talent and Diversity, techUK

Nimmi Patel is the Head of Skills, Talent and Diversity at techUK. She works on all things skills, education, and future of work policy, focusing on upskilling and retraining. Nimmi is also an Advisory Board member of Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre research aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.

Prior to joining the techUK team, she worked for the UK Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party, and holds an MA in Strategic Communications at King’s College London and BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Manchester. She is currently taking part in the 2024-25 University of Bath Institute for Policy Research Policy Fellowship Programme.

: https://www.techuk.org/skills-talent-and-diversity-programme.html
: nimmi-patel1/
: @nimmiptl

---

Ed Bevan

Head of SME Engagement, techUK

Ed is Head of SME Engagement and is responsible for shaping techUK’s proposition to our SMEs across the country, ensuring our policy work, market access activity and services benefit the SME community.

Prior to working at techUK, Ed worked in the at the Department for International Trade, engaging with a variety of businesses, particularly SMEs, to understand the benefits of Free Trade Agreements and act as case studies in press and social media. Ed has also worked in policy and public affairs within the voluntary sector, namely the Alzheimer’s Society and the Men’s Health Forum.

Ed holds a MA in International Relations from Leiden University, and in his spare time enjoys spending time with his son, travelling, and visiting historical sites.

---

Eleanor Bowe

Principal Consultant, Gemserv

Eleanor Bowe is a Principal Consultant at Gemserv, a purpose-driven Certified B Corporation, working across energy, low carbon, cyber & digital. She has a mix of private and public sector expertise in technology, motorsport & government. Her experience spans economic strategy, future transport policy, R&D investment, and private sector commercial development. 

Since her time working on the Future of Mobility across HMG, she has been motivated to drive the transition to a low carbon transportation system. Eleanor continues to work across public and private sector, building new partnerships, products, and services that commercially benefit the industry and help to accelerate the UK towards Net Zero. Most recently she has been leading stakeholder engagement on the Street Fleet market offering, aimed at helping businesses electrify their vehicles with minimal disruption whilst supporting Local Authorities electrification ambitions with a fully funded charging solution
 

---

Yuri Andersson

Chief Executive Officer, ANGOKA

Yuri Andersson has over 20 years' experience of technology innovation in startups, research institutes and multinationals as a director, manager and scientist. He has co-founded a number of deep technology startups including ANGOKA, Nu Quantum and QLM Technologies and sits on several boards. He is also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the UK’s Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC).

---

Carolina Toczycka

Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Lenz Labs

Carolina Toczycka is the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Lenz Labs, the Edinburgh-based start-up founded in 2019 that provides AI-powered risk management solutions to rail operators. Having raised a £600k pre-seed investment round from UK, European and Silicon Valley-based venture capital investors, Lenz Labs are set to double their Edinburgh and London teams in a bid to deliver on their vision of making rail more resilient and attractive for freight and passenger movement. 

Originally from a management consulting and finance background, she has since come to advise the highway and water sectors on supply chain design, digitisation benefit realisation, and social value. When working towards a PhD with Costain, she advised major infrastructure projects (Tideway, HS2) on digitising planning and coordination. She has been named one of the top 50 Women in Engineering in 2022.
 

---

Sophie Peachey

Business Development Director, IOTICS

With a background in both information management and in developing and managing extensive collaborative research and development projects, Sophie has worked across multiple sectors as diverse as construction, automotive, aerospace, defence, smart cities, rail, utilities and social care. This experience has found a happy home within IOTICS, deploying a technology capable of working across sectors to support secure, selective data sharing both within and across organisational boundaries.

Sophie has supported all of IOTICS’ deployments, including the Rail Digital Twin Ecosystem with Rolls-Royce Power Systems and more recently with Porterbrook Leasing Company, the Digital Twin of the Construction Site for BAM Nuttall and a Maritime Digital Twin Ecosystem at Portsmouth International Port. Sophie actively engages in building ecosystems of people around these evolving digital communities to ensure the inclusion of a wide representation of stakeholders, and takes pride in the resulting digital cooperation and trust this creates.
 

---

Neil Ross

Associate Director, Policy, techUK

As Associate Director for Policy Neil leads on techUK's public policy work in the UK. In this role he regularly engages with UK and Devolved Government Ministers, senior civil servants and members of the UK’s Parliaments aiming to make the UK the best place to start, scale and develop a tech business.

Neil joined techUK in 2019 to lead on techUK’s input into the UK-EU Brexit trade deal negotiations and economic policy. Alongside his role leading techUK's public policy work Neil also acts as a spokesperson for techUK often appearing in the media and providing evidence to a range of Parliamentary committees.

In 2023 Neil was listed by the Politico newspaper as one of the '20 people who matter in UK tech' and has regularly been cited as a key industry figure shaping UK tech policy.

---

Martin Sheehan

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Trainline

Martin is responsible for Trainline’s Government Affairs, Industry Relations and Communications functions, in all of the Company’s key markets across Europe. He joined Trainline in October 2021, bringing over 20 years’ experience in strategic communications.

Martin previously worked at Portland, the leading strategic communications consultancy, where he helped guide the growth of the company for 13 years as International Managing Director, before moving to a Senior Advisor role for a range of global brands, governments, and philanthropic and foundation clients. For over ten years in the UK government, he also advised Prime Ministers Blair and Brown in 10 Downing Street, where he was Head of Strategic Communications.
 

---

Max Sugarman

Chief Executive, Intelligent Transport Systems UK

Max Sugarman is Chief Executive of Intelligent Transport Systems UK, the national voice of the transport technology industry. He manages the strategy and direction of the organisation, representing the sector to government and stakeholders and making the case for the value of intelligent transport.

He has around a decade of experience working in transport, innovation and communications. He has previously worked at the Catapult Network, where he supported the nine Catapult innovation centres on cross-cutting policy issues and political engagement, and as Public Affairs & PR Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), the leading UK trade body for rail suppliers, where he led an award-winning communications function.

 

---

Sarah Gates

Director of Public Policy, Wayve

Sarah Gates is Director of Public Policy at Wayve, a London-based company pioneering AI technology to enable autonomous vehicles to drive in complex urban environments. Prior to joining Wayve, Sarah had a multidisciplinary background across a variety of science and technology roles. She began her career in academia, with a PhD at Imperial College London and has since specialised in science and research policy; in AI, data and emerging technologies, both in UK Government and industry. At Wayve Sarah works closely with government and our partners, focusing on the future regulatory framework for autonomous 
vehicles.
 

---

Nicholas Zylberglajt

CEO, Unmanned Life

Nicholas is the CEO of Unmanned Life where he leads the investment efforts and overall strategy.  He is a leader with more than 15 years of international experience with a focus on the technology and entrepreneurship space, having approached the adoption of new technologies from different perspectives such as deep tech start-up creation, fundraising, strategy, product open innovation, regulation, mentoring and supporting more than 1500 start-ups in their growth journey. He has been featured in Bloomberg, Politico, Telco Titans, shortlisted as one of the 12 most impressive CEOs in the autonomous vehicles space and Unmanned Life has been shortlisted as the top Company by Sifted in the Autonomous Vehicles Space.
 

---

Phill Davies

CEO and Founder, Magway

Phill Davies is the Co-Founder and Commercial Director at Magway, a zero-emissions delivery solution that tackles the problem of pollution head-on. In this role, Phill is responsible for driving the commercial vision of the business, turning its technology into real-world solutions.
Before Magway Phill worked in the retail and technology sectors focusing on business development and reverse logistics. He has worked with numerous retailers to improve efficiency and value on their returns and clearance goods and processes.
 
Phill spent several years with Deloitte Consulting and Lehman Equity Research providing thought leadership and some of the first written reports on the SaaS business model.   He is also active in the start-up space as a founder and advisor with various companies working on their commercial roll-outs and scale-ups. 
 

---

Matt Davies

Director, Octopus Electroverse

Matt Davies is Director and creator of Octopus Electroverse, Octopus Energy’s EV roaming service which is now one of the world’s largest ‘virtual’ EV charging networks. Matt created Electroverse in 2020 to provide a solution to the frequent complaint that EV drivers need lots of apps and cards to use the many charging station brands. 

Electroverse’s tech makes public charging simple so drivers just need one card, one app and one map to access lots of different charging brands, with zero added costs and no ongoing fees. EV drivers across the globe can now access 380,000+ charge points across 460+ networks. Electoverse won ‘Best EV Innovation’ at Driving Electric Awards 2021 and ‘Best Use of Technology’ at UK Business & Innovations Awards 2022. 

Matt has worked at global energy tech pioneer Octopus Energy since it launched in 2016. He was part of the start-up team that helped build the foundations of the company. And before Electroverse, Matt worked in various roles including Director of Operations for Octopus Energy for Business as well as helping migrate millions of customers to Octopus’ proprietary tech platform Kraken that it licences to other energy companies. 
 

---

Glenda Duggan

Managing Director, Accenture

Glenda leads the UKs Electric Vehicle practice and UK utilities consulting. She is a Managing Director with 20+ years of experience predominantly in the Utilities Sector, across consulting and all stages of large complex programme implementations.

---

Andrew Pearce

Practice Director, Intelligent Mobility & Smart Technology, Atkins

Andrew is a Technologist & Chartered Transport Planner with 30 years’ experience solving safety, congestion and air quality issues through policy, design and technology solutions.  Andrew leads the European Intelligent Mobility and Smart Technology business for Atkins consultants, blending traditional ITS systems knowledge with emerging areas such as connected and autonomous transport, the shift to low and zero emission fuels, and integration of data for smart city systems and as-a-service mobility.
He has headed transport technology teams in the three market leading European consultancies, as well as delivering the world’s largest ITS scheme on behalf of a middle east government, managing a $2.1Bn, 12 country supply chain. Andrew brings knowledge from periods working in the software and systems integration industry as well as in vehicle electronics, and remains involved at the coalface of projects including R&D in such fields as video analytics and drone autonomy.
He is also a director of RTI Focus, the parent company of the UKs Intelligent Transport Society (ITS, UK), on whose board he also sits as FD and Founding Chair of the MaaS Forum.
 

---

Dr Daniel Ruiz

Board Director, Office of Rail and Road

Daniel Ruiz was the founding CEO of Zenzic.  He is now occupied in various ways including as a NED on the main board of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), a member of Transport for the South East’s Partnership Board, and an advisor to SMEs including techUK member ANGOKA. 
 
At Zenzic, Daniel oversaw the £100m programme to set up “CAM Testbed UK” and coordinate the co-investment by government and industry into the multi-faceted area of innovation that is Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM).  He joined Zenzic from Dynniq UK Ltd (now part of Swarco), where he was Managing Director.  As MD of Dynniq, Daniel led a 500-strong team tackling traffic challenges on the road networks in the UK and Ireland by developing, installing and maintaining a number of technology-based solutions.  He previously held roles as Head of Real Time Operations at Transport for London (TfL), Launch Director of the UK’s intelligent mobility innovation centre (the Transport Systems Catapult), and Programme Director for the Transport Coordination Centre for the London 2012 Games.  
 

---