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Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from May 2021

The big news this month in transport and infrastructure is of course the announcement of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, in what is probably the biggest shake-up of the UK railway industry in more than 25 years. I’m sure we’ll be seeing some key appointments over the coming year or two on this.

 

But who else has had an eventful month in the industry? Let’s take a look at the movers and shakers from May…

National Infrastructure Bank

 

Ex-British Land Chief Executive Chris Grigg has been appointed as chairman of the government’s new National Infrastructure Bank.

 

Vinci Construction UK

 

Scott Wardrop has been named as UK Construction Chief Executive in the newly created role, he has been CEO of Vinci-owned Eurovia since 2007 and will retain the role alongside his new position.

 

IPA

 

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority has recently appointed Helen Campbell as its new Director of Strategy, Performance and Assurance. She joins from National Grid and will be responsible for driving cross-government and industry collaboration and pushing improvements in project delivery.

 

Buro Happold

 

Current CFO James Bruce has been appointed as the new Chef Executive, he recently announced plans to double the headcount at the consultancy from 2,000 to 4,000 employees over the next 6 years.

 

Balfour Beatty

 

Ex-ITV Chief Executive Charles Allen (now Lord Allen of Kensington) will take on the role as Chair in July, succeeding Phil Aiken.

 

Construction Industry Council (CIC)

 

Nick Mead has recently been appointed as its Champion for Modern Methods of Construction, he will advise the organisation on digital construction policy, he has sat on the board as a member-appointed Director for the past 5 years.

 

WSP

 

Ex-Isle Utilities Business Development Director Louise Elliott has recently been appointed as Strategy & Business Growth Director at WSP.

 

Mace

 

Atkins veteran Andy Oldham has joined Mace Consult as Business Unit Director for Defence, Nuclear, Energy and Utilities.

 

Peter Waddingham recently joined Mace as an Operations Director in Programme Management.

 

Story Contracting

 

Liz Hughes joined Story Contracting this month as Technical Director leaving her role as Head of Rail Assurance at Amey.

 

HS2

 

Sir Jonathan Thompson has recently been appointed as a non-executive Director of HS2.

 

SYSTRA

 

Ben Hamer has joined the firm as Director of Operations, High-Speed Rail.

 

Speedy Hire

 

Ex-South Western Railway’s Head of Sustainability Amelia Woodley joins Speedy Hire as its new Sustainability Director.

 

Defence Infrastructure Organisation

 

HS2 Procurement boss David Poole will be taking on a new role as Commercial Director for the DIO.

 

Women in Transport

 

Jo Field has been elected as Women in Transport’s new President; she succeeds Katie Hulland. Jo is currently Managing Director of JFG Communications.

 

CrossCountry Trains

 

Jon Fenn will be joining the company as Service Delivery Director in early July.

 

SSE Enterprise Energy Solutions

 

Paul Rees joined SSE Enterprise this month as their new Director of Energy Infrastructure in their Energy Solutions business.

 

Mott MacDonald

 

Simon Cartwright joins the consultancy to head its Transport & Mobility service in the Middle East.

 

Atkins

 

Jo Jarman leaves Skanska and joins Atkins as its Finance Director for the UK and Europe. She replaces Mark Anderson.

 

Rami Mansour has also been appointed as Head of Design for Manufacture and Assembly and Eugene Smethurst as Head of Lean.

 

Thames Water

 

Francis Paonessa joins the firm as its new Capital Delivery Director. He was previously managing director of infrastructure projects at Network Rail.

 

Laing O’Rourke

 

Vicky Bullivant has been appointed as the groups first ever Group Head of Sustainability, she will join the company on the 21st of June from Drax Group.

 

Kier

 

Kier has recently promoted two new Directors to its executive team, Sophie Timms has been promoted to the role of Corporate Affairs Director and will report to Chief Executive Andrew Davies.

 

Alpna Amar has also been promoted to the role of Corporate Development Director, she will report to CFO Simon Kesterton.

 

United Living

 

Conor Bray has been internally promoted to Chief Operating Officer at United Living following the departure of Daren Moseley who left the firm at the end of April.

 

TransPennine Express

 

Matthew Golton has been appointed as Managing Director of TransPennine Express.

 

Go-Ahead

 

CEO David Brown will depart at the end of the year after leading the company for more than ten years.

 

Bridges

 

MEICA contractor Bridges has recently appointed ex-Kier Director Toby Harding as its new Operations Director.

 

SCAPE Scotland

 

The procurement specialist recently appointed Lillian McDowall as Senior Relationship Manager following the launch of the Scape Scotland Consultancy framework.

 

ENGIE

 

Tim Wood joins ENGIE as its new Managing Director for the North West. He leaves his role as Group Commercial Director at United Living.

 

Redrow

 

Richard Akers will join the board as Chair on the 1st of June, he takes over from long-serving board member John Tutte.

 

Wates

 

Andrew Savege has been named as the firms first Head of Partnerships; he leaves Morgan Sindall Investments after more than 16 years with the firm.

 

BRE

 

Former Heathrow Expansion Programme Director Phil Wilbraham has been named as Chairman of the BRE Trust.

 

Careys

 

The family-owned contractor has promoted Bjourn Bigley as Managing Director of its Civil Engineering business.

 

Rail Supply Group

 

Two leading experts have been appointed to the industry-wide council. Jacqueline Starr CEO of the RDG and Elaine Clark CEO of the Rail Forum Midlands.

 

Tilbury Douglas

 

Lucy Davies has been appointed as the new Head of Social Value to spearhead the corporate social responsibility programme across the UK business.

 

Midlands Connect

 

Karen Heppenstall has been appointed as Head of Rail; she leaves WSP after 6 years.

 

 

TfN

 

John Cridland is set to retire as Chairman of TfN, he will remain in the post until July.

If you are looking to make any changes to your senior management teams and would like to discuss how we can make the process as effective as possible for you, please do get in touch.

You can book a confidential discussion by clicking HERE to pick a time that works for you.

By Jim Newsom3rd June 2021

Author: Jim Newsom

Jim Newsom leads our work in construction and infrastructure having worked in executive search since 1998, recruiting for both public and private sector companies in infrastructure, transport, engineering and construction. Prior to forming Newsom Consulting, Jim spent 11 years working for the one of the UK’s largest independently owned executive recruiters and then two years at a boutique search firm. Jim is a graduate in civil engineering from Liverpool University.

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