Speaker profiles
Full speaker profiles coming soon, meanwhile here are some of the amazing speakers at Interchange
Sarah Sharples
Chief Scientific Adviser, DfT
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.
Dame Sarah Storey
Active Travel Commissioner, Greater Manchester
Dame Sarah Storey has worked as a policy advocate for British Cycling with a particular focus on promoting road safety and access to cycling as transport for women and those with disabilities.
In 2019 she was appointed as Active Travel Commissioner for South Yorkshire, a role she held until May 2022 when she moved to Greater Manchester to become the region’s Active Travel Commissioner.
Also a well-known athlete, Dame Sarah is Britain’s most successful Paralympian
John Abel
Technical Director, Office of CTO, Google Cloud
John leads the EMEA Office of the CTO team for Google Cloud engaging on emerging themes like AI and Google Distributed Cloud. Blending engineering and customer engagement is an important part of the role. John works within a diverse team drawn from multiple backgrounds and skill sets to ensure synergies of various perspectives working together comes to the fore. John also supports a number of STEM projects that are aimed at enhancing participation overall but particularly from a wider range of backgrounds.
John began his technology career nearly 32 years ago, working on early AI and even distributed ledger technologies that were deployed to great impact in private and public sector environments. His expertise across many roles within Oracle and now Google in sustainability and data technologies have led to him being a renowned industry speaker, author and commentator on technical and business innovation issues.
Shashi Verma
CTO, Transport for London
Shashi Verma is a member of Transport for London’s Executive Committee. As Director of Strategy he is responsible for TfL’s overall corporate direction. Shashi established the Technology and Data team in 2017 and has been Chief Technology Officer since then.
He led on the development of Crossrail which led to new theory of agglomeration economics that is now central in the analysis of urbanisation.
Since 2006 Shashi has been responsible for the operation of TfL’s revenue collection system including the Oyster card, the largest smartcard based ticketing system in the world. Shashi has led the development of contactless payments since 2007 and implemented this successfully on TfL’s systems starting in 2012. Contactless payments remain the most successful FinTech innovation anywhere in the world. In the process he has developed capability for technology development and globally leading innovation in a public sector organisation.
Thomas Ableman
Founder, Freewheeling
Drawing on 20 years of leadership across both public and private sectors, Thomas helps organisations in the transport and mobility sector drive innovation, achieve lasting change and achieve faster results. Previous roles include director of strategy and innovation at TfL, founder and CEO of SN-AP Travel Technology, Commercial Director at Chiltern Railways and Director of Product Development at National Express
Elliot Shaw
Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, National Highways
Elliot is responsible for the strategic development of the SRN network and National Highways’ organisational business improvement agenda, analytical and economist functions, relationships with key statutory and regulatory bodies, plus customer service, communications and corporate affairs activities
His career includes Transformation Director at the Ministry of Justice and a number of Senior Civil Service positions at the Ministry of Justice and DfT, with his early career spent as a management consultant at Accenture. He was appointed to National Highways’ Executive team in September 2016, and joined the Board in January 2024.
Geraint Evans
Chief Executive, UK Major Ports Group
Geraint joined the UK Major Ports Group in May 2023 from the global consulting firm, Stonehaven where he was a Partner. Prior to Stonehaven, Evans served as a Special Adviser under three consecutive prime ministers – David Cameron, Theresa May and latterly Boris Johnson.
Evans brings extensive experience of cross-Government Whitehall departments and Parliament having been an early champion of the ‘Levelling Up’ agenda and joined the UKMPG having been at the centre of British politics during a historic period of three general elections and an EU referendum in five years.
Rachel Skinner
Executive Director, WSP | Past President, Institution of Civil Engineers | Chair, Interchange Steering Committee
Rachel is an Executive Director at WSP, sitting on its UK board to lead on responsible business and government relations, having previously led its 600-strong transport business. In 2020-21, Rachel served as the 156th President of the Institution of Civil Engineers with a theme of climate action; she is a Patron and founder of Women in Transport. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a chartered engineer and a chartered transport planner, Rachel was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Leeds for services to transport, engineering and industry diversity and is an honorary fellow of the Society for the Environment. Rachel was also awarded a CBE for services to infrastructure in the 2022 New Year Honours list. Rachel is also chair of the Interchange steering committee.
Adam Scott
Global Creative Director, FreeState
Adam is the Executive Creative Director and Founder of FreeState. An architect and designer, he’s won a number of Cannes Gold Lions and drives FreeState’s creative approach to masterplanning experiences. A lifelong advocate of the truly transformational experience, Adam is in his element designing experiences for global brands or multinational developers. He’s an evangelist for the cause and travels the world meeting with key decision makers and giving talks on the future of experience design.
Phil Blythe
Director DARe
Phil Blythe CBE is Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems at Newcastle University and director DARe, the national hub for decarbonised, adaptable, and resilient transport infrastructures. As former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Transport, he can provide detailed understanding and insights into the key challenges facing UK transport.
Phil’s academic focus has been the development of ITS – the use of information, communications and computing technology applied to transport, and in 2021 was awarded the Reece-Hills Medal for a lifetime personal contribution to ITS. His research portfolio covers a wide range of areas where ITS has been applied to transport including road to vehicle communications; road user charging systems; ITS for assistive mobility; smartcards and radio frequency identification (RFID); wireless/smartdust technologies; electromobility; and future intelligent infrastructure.
Vernon Everitt
Transport Commissioner, Greater Manchester
With over 40 years’ experience across the finance, transport and technology sectors, Vernon is the Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester. He advises Mayor Andy Burnham on the development of the Bee Network, a fully-integrated, London-style transport system for this growing three million strong city-region. From 2007 to January 2022 he was Managing Director for Customers, Communication and Technology at Transport for London and held a number of other senior jobs there. Vernon’s primary focus was on putting customers at the heart of transport strategy and operations, including how integration of services, city planning, technology and data can deliver better journeys. Vernon is a non-executive director of Transport for Wales, is senior advisor to the consultancy Teneo and chairs the National Grid ESO Technology Advisory Council as the generation and distribution of energy across the country is transformed.
Colin Morrow
Principal Commercial Director, Crown Commercial Service
Following his role as Estate PFI Contract Manager at HMRC Colin joined Government Procurement Service in July 2013. This became Crown Commercial Service in 2014. Colin has extensive experience of operational delivery throughout his career and currently leads a team of commercial and procurement professionals, working with them to put a vast range of commercial agreements in place. Colin’s primary focus is ensuring public sector bodies needing goods and services can buy with confidence and ease.
Colin believes that the combination of innovative procurement practices and effective communication and engagement can facilitate suppliers’ ability to secure public sector business. He is now gearing up for what he anticipates will be the biggest change in his career with the introduction of the new Procurement Bill which will reform the UK’s public procurement regime.
Glenn Lyons
President, CIHT | Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility, UWE Bristol
Glenn is the Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility at UWE Bristol and the current President of CIHT. His activities bridge between academia and practice with Glenn dividing his time between the university and on secondment at Mott MacDonald. At a time of significance for the transport sector, the position aims to co-develop and extend transport expertise in relation to understanding and responding to a changing and uncertain mobility landscape, which is shaped by technological possibilities and societal needs and preferences. Glenn was also formerly the Professor of Transport and Society at UWE Bristol and was the Founder of the Centre for Transport & Society. He was recently appointed to DfT’s Capital Review Panel.