Mobilise 2024: the future of infrastructure

Julian David

CEO, techUK

Julian David is the CEO of techUK, the Digital Technology Trade Association. 

Julian leads techUK's 60 strong team in representing over 800 member companies, comprising global and national champions and more than 500 SMEs. He is a member of the UK Government and Industry Cyber Growth Partnership, the Digital Economy Council and the Department of International Trade’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group. He is also the Vice President for National Trade Associations, on the Executive Board of DIGITALEUROPE, Vice President representing Europe on the board of WITSA the Worldwide IT Association, and a member of the board of the Health innovation Network, the South London Academic Health Science Network. 

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Katie Day

Director of Strategy, Analysis and Communications, Transport for the North

Katie Day is Transport for the North’s Director of Strategy, Analysis and Communications, having joined the organisation in February 2023. 

Katie has over 20 years’ experience working in public bodies and central government. Before joining TfN, she spent over five years as Director of Policy and Communications at the Office for Nuclear Regulation. She also worked at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as Head of Operations for the Regional Growth Fund, and, at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) leading internal communications and strategic policy. Previously, she held a variety of leadership and management roles at the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), focused on urban and rural regeneration, enterprise and business growth and economic development.
 

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Stef Lehmann

Director of Transport, Labour Together

No bio provided

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Richard Jinks

Chief Commercial Officer, OXA

Richard Jinks is Oxa’s Chief Commercial Officer responsible for identifying new market opportunities and developing strategic partnerships and sales. He has a 30-year background leading global teams in the risk and insurance sector, joining Oa from insurer AXA XL where he served as global head of portfolio solutions. 

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Ashley Feldman

Programme Manager, Transport and Smart Cities, techUK

Ashley Feldman leads techUK’s transport and smart cities programmes. He is responsible for shaping the agenda of the intelligent mobility and smart cities working groups to drive forward activity which supports the sector’s strategic priorities. He joined techUK in 2022 having worked in the public policy and communications industry and specialised in advising clients in the infrastructure, built environment and transport sectors on issues including stakeholder engagement, policy development and corporate reputation management. He has a masters degree in Urbanisation and Development from the London School of Economics and a degree in Geography from the University of Leeds. 

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Rebecca Jeffery

New Mobility Lead, Uber

Rebecca leads New Mobility for the UK, responsible for incorporating and growing new modes of shared transport in the Uber app. Since 2019, Uber has been expanding the number of transport modes available within the app, including, in 2022, launching Train ticketing. This is part of Uber’s vision to enable seamless multimodal travel, making more efficient use of finite capacity on our transport networks through increasing the uptake of shared, sustainable travel. Prior to this, Rebecca led Uber’s work on sustainability. This included developing industry partnerships and education programmes to help drivers switch to electric vehicles and overseeing the launch of Uber Green, a product choice which enables passengers to choose a fully electric vehicle for the same price as a regular trip.

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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.

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Bill Esterson MP

Shadow Transport (Roads) Minister,

No bio provided

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Katherine Williamson

Chief Data Officer, Department for Transport (DfT)

Katherine Williamson is the Chief Data Officer for the Department for Transport (DfT). She leads a team of data experts working on a range of activities to improve the use of data for the transport sector. Her role includes data policy developments through the implementation of the DFT's Transport Data Strategy. Enhancing digital systems that support the transport sector and users of public transport such as National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN). As well as improving the way data is used and managed within the department.

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Yatin Mahandru

VP and Head of Public Sector and Health UK, Cognizant

No bio provided

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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

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Chacasta Pritlove

Head of Transport, Google Cloud UKI

As the UK Transport Lead for Google Cloud, Chacasta works across Rail, Road, Maritime and the wider transport industry to help them build for a digital future. She’s taking transport somewhere new, focusing on digital transformation; delivering digital public services, focusing on data, security, innovation and sustainable value. 
Google builds technologies that change the world. Chacasta’s focus is to collaborate with transport leaders to do the same, creating a future that is sustainable, built responsibly and accessible to all. 
Chacasta joined Google Cloud in November, 2020, with 25 years’ experience in enterprise technology, and a focus on the public sector for the past 15. She has earned the role of trusted partner to several large organisations across the public sector which focus on integrated, seamless and sustainable transportation.
 

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Jonathan Yates

Director, D-Wave

Jonathan has spent three decades focused on providing business value through innovation in data & analytics, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Currently, Jonathan works for quantum computing pioneer, D-Wave, providing guidance to organisations around the world on how to leverage the power of quantum solutions to create valuable business outcomes. He has worked for some of the largest technology companies such as IBM as founding member of Watson Group, and the smallest, a data-driven startup in the soft drinks industry which he sold within four years. Jonathan has been written about in The Financial Times, The Sunday Times and featured on National Radio. He is the Author of "All-Time Essentials for Entrepreneurs” & "Freesourcing: How to start a business with no money" (published by Wiley / Capstone). Jonathan has a BSc in Computing Information Systems, is a member of the chartered institute of marketing, speaks English and French, and has hands-on experience helping organisations understand and commercialise innovative new technologies. 

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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

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Anthony Browne MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport

Anthony Browne was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport on 13 November 2023.
Following the publication of the UK government’s Fraud Strategy, he was previously appointed as the first Prime Minister’s Anti-Fraud Champion.
As the previous Chief Executive Officer for the British Banking Association, and a former member of the Treasury Select Committee (2 March 2020 to 26 June 2023), Anthony has the experience and knowledge of fraud and industry to drive this work forward.
Between 2020 to 2022, Anthony was the Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Environment, a parliamentary group dedicated to strengthening the influence of parliamentarians on public policy and public debate on the environment and assisting parliamentarians by improving their access to specialist information.
 

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Lucy Yu

CEO, Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group)

Lucy Yu is CEO at Centre for Net Zero (CNZ), a research institute leading pioneering research to make a fully sustainable global energy system a reality. CNZ was founded by Octopus Energy in early 2021. Lucy has 20 years of experience in technology, policy and regulation. She has led teams in the UK government and the UN, and has run operations, public policy, research and strategy for some of Europe’s brightest startups. Lucy is a Non-Executive Member of the Board at the Connected Places Catapult and E3G, and an Associate Fellow of Technology and Public Policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

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Mia Haffety

Policy Manager - Digital Economy, techUK

Mia joined techUK in September 2023.

Mia works to ensure that the UK policy and regulatory environment promote investment into the tech sector, recognising the role of digital and emerging technology towards future growth and productivity. 

Prior to joining techUK, Mia worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) within the Policy Unit.

Mia holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Manchester and a BA(Hons) in Politics and International Relations from the University of Nottingham.

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Justin Balcombe

Founder, Breathe Points

Justin Balcombe is the founder of Breathe Points, a global platform rewarding citizens, companies and cities for emission reduction. Breathe Points, which is preparing for launch, has been designed to encourage to more sustainable choices. For transport, this means rewarding people for taking active journeys or using public transport rather than cars. Prior to founding the business, Justin spent 35 years advising the global financial services industry. 

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Ben Gascoyne

Associate Director, Net Zero Transitions, Madano

No bio provided

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Simon Shapcott

Net Zero Transportation Director, Atkins

Simon joined AtkinsRéalis in October 2023 as Net Zero Transportation Director following 15 years in Central Government and ALBs.  Simon has extensive expertise in strategy, policy and innovation programme development and delivery.  Previously, Simon led the Department for Transport’s Office for Science, overseeing a cross cutting programme to enhance DfT’s capabilities, evidence base and investments across a broad portfolio including decarbonisation, futures, emerging technologies, innovation grant funding and hydrogen transportation.  Prior to DfT, Simon led a multi-million pound R&D and infrastructure programme for the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, established an Innovation Accelerator for the Ministry of Defence and led Science and Innovation policy at HM Treasury.

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James Tichler

Head of Emerging Technologies, Department for Transport (DfT)

James is a trained biochemist who has held a range of science and technology roles across Government Departments, covering R&D sponsorship, equipment type approval, and science strategy. James Currently leads the Emerging Technologies Team in the Department for Transport, which ensures the organisation grasps the key opportunities and risks of most impactful techs – AI, Quantum, Position Navigation and Timing (PNT) and 5/6G. James’ time in DfT has seen him set up the Transport Research and Innovation Board, which brings together senior leaders from UKRI, DfT and transport delivery organisations to cohere transport RD&D; oversee the enduring Catapult Collaboration Programme which helps grow transport technology markets; and develop the first Transport AI Strategy to set the sector off on its AI journey. Outside of work James is a Gooner and keen gardener.

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