A transport design specialist focusing on CMF, customer experience, brand and practical design solutions for the railway industry. Rolling Stock, Stations and Environments, Wayfinding.

Working meticulously with clients and suppliers to deliver a unique design language that can be brought to life in the real world.

A strong understanding of the value of twin-sided innovation, where customer experience and customer wants and needs are perfectly aligned with commercial and technical requirements

David Clarke is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers with over 35 years’ rail industry experience. In his role at RIA, the trade association for the UK railway supply industry, he represents members interests in the important areas of safety, technical standards, technical strategy, research and innovation. Current priorities include decarbonisation, digitalisation and supply chain sustainability.

Prior to joining RIA he was the Innovation Director at RSSB helping to deliver the Rail Technical Strategy. His earlier career includes being Deputy Director, Rail Technical at the Department for Transport, prior to which he was a Director for two of the major rail infrastructure contractors having started his career with British Rail. He has been responsible for large operational and project delivery teams, securing major contracts, corporate strategy and business development and, more recently, for technical strategy and innovation.

I’m thrilled to be supporting the RBA again this year, recognising the brilliant people and organisations within an industry undergoing reform and transformation. The entries are always inspiring, providing reassurance about the future of rail.

Personally, I’m lucky enough to do a job that I am passionate about – working with people every day, making learning creative, and believing that everyone can achieve something given the very best and the right support. My current responsibilities in t4c involve me building partnership relationships with our customers and stakeholders, overseeing many of the projects we deliver, engaging and supporting our team members.

Edward is a highly-experienced corporate communications professional. He has advised leading transport companies and transport authorities on rail franchise bids, mobilisations and takeovers in the UK and overseas, and he is a former Director of Communications for the Rail Delivery Group (ATOC).

Edward has held senior communications roles at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Department for Transport, and for large companies including Virgin Atlantic Airways, National & Provincial Building Society and Merial Pharmaceuticals. He has also worked for leading corporate and financial PR consultancies including Ludgate Communications, Publicis Consultants and Edelman.

He has a BA in Politics from Newcastle University and an MA on European Political and Economic Integration from the University of Durham. Edward lives in south-west London.

With 20 years’ experience in the rail sector, Tim has advised on the appointments of many of the most senior leaders in the UK rail industry, including the CEOs of Crossrail and HS2. Serving as a board director and trustee of the charity Railway Children for over 10 years, he is also a mentor for the Women in Rail programme.

David has 40yrs policing experience, half of which was spent at command level responsible for several major incidents. Involving disaster, firearms and public order ground command.

Toward the end of his career he was an Area Commander for London and the South of England with British Transport Police, a period that included almost annual rail crashes of varying degrees commencing with Paddington.

Since retiring from BTP in 2004 he volunteered for an international disaster relief humanitarian aid organisation, delivering aid to Haiti, Brazil, Nepal, Vanuatu and The Philippines.

He is a family man involved in founding and running several charitable activities including organising trips to Disneyland Paris for over 70 Children’s Hospice families.

Sharon Kindleysides FCILT is the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute Of Logistics and Transport and an Expert in Intelligent Transport Systems and Future Mobility with over 20 years’ experience in the industry including as ITS Director for Transport for New South Wales, in Australia and CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom Ltd. Prior to starting her role with the CILT, Miss Kindleysides worked as a consultant in the fields of ITS, Smart Cities and Future Mobility across the Globe and mentored a number of innovative international start-ups in the field of AI and approaches to achieving net-Zero. She has an Honours Degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of the West of England and an MBA from the University of Durham.

Nicole Lyons is a communications specialist with over 10 years’ marketing and communications experience working with global transport businesses. Driven by an ambition to deliver high impact work, she has managed and delivered strategic growth campaigns in the UK rail sector for Pandrol.

Her educational background includes a BA degree in Advertising and Design from the University of Sunderland. An MBA from Cranfield school of business and a diploma in strategic marketing with Charted Marketeer status from the Charted Institute of Marketing.

Returning for her second year as a subject matter expert judge Nicole looks forward to reviewing the outstanding campaigns delivered this year by the foremost UK rail businesses.

Sarah McKee is Director of Communications and Public Affairs for Cratus, a specialist consultancy that supports clients across the built environment and public sector.

Sarah has significant experience of leading communications, collaboration and engagement activities, most recently as Head of Communications and Collaboration for EKFB, a joint venture delivering civil engineering works across 80km of HS2, Britain’s new high speed railway and one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe.

Sarah’s career has been built on an ability to bring strategic objectives to life and balancing the requirements of different stakeholder and community groups. She believes that all communications activity should take organisations closer to their goals and, crucially, realise the intended benefits. She is adept at supporting different parties to analyse and codify their contrasting priorities, and to understand that ‘contrasting’ does not have to mean ‘conflicting’.

Sarah is passionate about representation, inclusion and social value. Her vocal advocacy in this space has earned her recognition within the industry and she is a judge for the Diversity in Rail category for the Rail Business Awards. In 2021 she was the winner of the European Women in Construction and Engineering (WICE) Awards ‘Best female mentor’.

Mike is a retired Civil Engineer who has been involved in the transport sector for 40 years. After graduation he worked on the development design and delivery of major complex transport schemes such as the North Wales Coast Road and transport projects in the Middle East. He joined BAA in 1987 and was involved in the project management of a number of major developments in the UK and overseas including the acquisition of Airports. In 1993 Mike was appointed to oversee the planning and construction of Heathrow Express including the procurement and maintenance of the trains. He later became Head of Rail for the BAA group and was responsible for Rail Access to all the Airports in the group. Mike has also been a non-exec Chairman of two Central London Business Improvement Districts and a consultant to number of international transport companies.

Bringing 27 years experience, Charlotte Pearce Consulting Ltd specialises in PR, Marketing, Business Development and Stakeholder Engagement across Transport, from working as a business consultant for Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Ltd, Industry Engagement Director for Rail Alliance and supporting LNER with the media launch of the Hitachi Azuma fleet.

Born in Zürich, Switzerland, Felix Schmid graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering. After a mini career in software engineering in his home country, he moved to Manchester, England, to work for GEC Traction as a locomotive control systems engineer.

In 1982 he became a research engineer at UMIST and at the University of Salford and then joined Brunel University as a lecturer in computer integrated manufacturing. He took up a post as a railway inspector with the Swiss Federal Office of Transport 1993 but realised quickly that he was not suited to a civil service role.

After a year, he returned to Britain and a senior lectureship at the University of Sheffield, where he was employed to develop the MSc programme in Railway Systems Engineering.

In 2005, Felix and the programme transferred to the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) at the University of Birmingham. At BCRRE, he managed two railway-related masters programmes and supervised research in the areas of railway control and systems engineering.

Felix retired from the University in 2020 but is still involved in teaching and the supervision of doctoral students. He is also consulting on railway engineering.

Richard has 40 years’ experience in the transport sector, with 20 years in front line rail service provision and senior management roles, developing wide-ranging operational skills as well as stakeholder and communications experience.

He managed large operational portfolios and multi-million P&Ls, including expanding the rail portfolio of National Car Parks (NCP) to become market leader in rail parking through competitive tendering.

Since 2009, Richard has been a successful independent consultant providing support to the UK and international rail and parking sectors, gaining a reputation across these sectors as the foremost expert in parking at railway stations and a specialist in improving access to stations.

As well as delivering parking projects through his own consultancy, Richard works with The Railway Consultancy, based in south London, providing support to UK and international rail clients.

Ashleigh is editor of OHW+, formerly known as Occupational Health & Wellbeing magazine, and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She previously worked at Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in transport and logistics.

An accomplished and well-connected leader, with deep experience across the public and private sector. A track record of analysing issues and implementing solutions which last long beyond their initial impact. Robust processes and sustainability are an intrinsic part of his approach.

Ed drives change, guides and influences leadership teams, and engages stakeholders to make enduring improvements to commercial organisations. He has spent his career developing ideas, options and delivering solutions for executives and boards in the rail sector.

As a consultant supported the Network Rail Southern Route develop their CP6 Funding Submission and developed the asset maintenance regime. He was a Head of Asset Management and Programme Director at TfL in Rail. He was Head of Asset Management and Assurance and RP2 Programme Director at Tube Lines. Before that over 20 years in London Underground in engineering, maintenance and programme roles.

Julian Worth has spent 43 years in the rail freight industry in a wide variety of roles, including Managing Director, Transrail Freight, and Marketing Director, English Welsh & Scottish Railway. He now works with a range of organisations in the private and public sectors, providing strategic advice on rail-based logistics. He also writes on rail freight matters and speaks at conferences in the UK and abroad, with a particular emphasis on supply chain decarbonisation and modal shift. Julian is Chair of the CILT Rail Freight Forum and is a member of the Freight & Logistics and Strategic Rail Policy Groups, plus the Public Policy Committee. He is a Fellow of the Institute.