Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Department for Transport

Baroness Vere of Norbiton was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport in April 2019. She was previously a Government Whip (Baroness in Waiting) from 21 December 2016 to 26 July 2019.

Before entering politics, she spent four years as the Executive Director of the Girls’ Schools Association, including six months as the General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council. Prior to that she was the CEO of Big White Wall, an online mental health service, and Finance Director at Recruit Media, a digital recruitment agency. Her early career was spent in investment banking.

Baroness Vere has responsibility for:

- Roads (including National Highways)
- Motoring agencies (DVSA, DVLA, VCA)
- Buses and taxis
- Light rail (including tram, underground and metro systems)
- Devolution (including union connectivity and London transport)

Steve Gooding CB

Director at RAC Foundation

Steve became Director of the RAC Foundation in 2015, commissioning research into areas such as road safety, road condition, and the development and take-up of technology including automation with a particular focus on the human-machine interface. Previously Steve worked at the Department for Transport for many years, and as Director General from 2009, where he led many projects and policy initiatives including the creation of the Road Investment Strategy and establishment of Highways England.

Will Britain

President at Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) and Head of Highways and Traffic Management Services at Blackpool Council

Will is Head of Highways and Traffic Management Services at Blackpool Council.

Will established LCRIG in 2013 to encourage councils to work together to support the Department for Transport and to work with each other collaboratively in partnership with the ‘highways community’.

Will has received national recognition for his work and has received numerous awards, including the Department for Transport ‘Special Recognition Award’ for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Highways Sector’ in 2019.

Martin Duffy

Chief Executive at Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG)

Martin has almost 40 years’ experience in the highways sector having started his career with local government in the early 80’s. Over the past 20 years he has held a number of high profile roles in the private sector which include that of a Partner in a global design consultancy, a Director in Kier Highways and more recently as a joint owner of his own consultancy D2M2.

Throughout his career Martin has played a significant role in the highways sector having held advisory positions with CIHT, ACE, HMEP and with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He has spoken at numerous national conferences and authored several industry guidance documents on the subjects of procurement, funding strategies, performance management and collaboration. He remains influential in helping to shape future highways delivery models by ensuring SMEs have the opportunity to access public sector contracts.

Matthew Eglinton

Head of Local Highways Maintenance, Innovation, and Resilience, Local Infrastructure at Department for Transport

Matt is the Head of Local Roads and Resilience at the Department for Transport. He is the Government’s lead on the Live Labs programme; working with external stakeholders including local highway authorities, academia, and the private sector organisations on delivering innovative solutions to highways infrastructure construction and maintenance.

Matt is an experienced transport policy professional, having previously worked for the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV). He helped design and implement policy changes needed to ensure the safe deployment of CAV technology in the UK aligned to the UK’s Industrial Strategy, most notably the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act. He has also worked for successive Transport Ministers as a Private Secretary, advising UK Government Ministers on complex transport policy areas.

Darren Capes

Manager of the Transport Technology Forum (TTF) and ITS Policy Lead, Traffic and Technology Division, DfT at Transport Technology Forum (TTF) and Department for Transport (DfT) and LCRIG Board Member

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 chair the IET’s National Transport Policy Panel, is a board member of ITS(UK) and a director of the IHE.

Alec Peachey

Content Director at Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG)

Alec has more than 15 years’ experience in multimedia journalism and has edited titles in the packaging, transport, healthcare and energy sectors.

Having spent four years as editor of Highways Magazine he is no stranger to the workings of the sector. Alec was responsible for running and developing the print offering of the magazine plus its associated products; namely the website and weekly newsletter.

During his time in the role Alec maintained relationships with a number of key individuals, associations and organisations across the highways sector. He also helped to oversee the relaunch of Highways sister title Smart Highways. Alec has project-managed the content creation of websites and digital platforms for a variety of brands, chaired roundtables and conferences, and been involved in the organisation of such events.

Alec is keen to help raise the profile of LCRIG and highlight the good work of the organisation’s members with a strong focus on innovation.

Annette Pass

Head of Innovation at National Highways

Annette was appointed Head of Innovation in November 2017. She has 20 years' experience at National Highways in research management, international co-ordination and Lean, where she has driven a continuous improvement culture within National Highways and its suppliers. A passionate advocate of change and improvement in the construction industry, she has a strong record in leading and delivering improvements in asset management, engineering and technical assurance.

Paul Boss

Chief Executive at Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA)

Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers, Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, Member of the Institute of Asset Management and Member of the Institute of Asphalt Technology. Vice Chair of the UKRLG / ADEPT Asset Management Board.

Paul is Chief Executive at the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) and prior to this had over 30 years’ experience within local authority highways, both directly with local authorities and with Tier 1 provider Amey. From 2005 to 2020, he was Highway Asset Manager looking after strategic, tactical and operational highway asset management in Staffordshire. He joined Amey in 2014 as part of the Staffordshire County Council / Amey Infrastructure+ Strategic Highway Partnership where he also managed teams responsible for the design of structural, preventative and structures schemes within the Partnership.

Adam Leighton

Marketing Assistant at Hitex International

Adam manages the marketing for Hitex International Group. He joined the company back in July 2020, after working for a digital marketing agency. The 24-year-old holds a degree in Journalism and is eager to pursue a long career in the highways sector.

Andrew Gillbanks

Business Development Manager North at Colas

Andrew has over 20 years’ experience across highways maintenance and construction working within various operational and business development/improvement roles. He has a keen interest towards innovation and technology and is always searching to find alternative options that deliver whole life cycle value for money, reduction in carbon and first class customer service to his stakeholders and clients.

With his ability to easily build and maintain relationships, Andrew has supported previous organisations to successfully gain ISO 14001 Collaborative working accreditation, by creating and defining customer and stakeholder strategies and ISO 9001 quality management systems, by implementing key processes and root cause analysis.

His key focus now is to support the wider highways industry by building trust and confidence of low carbon sustainable solutions and best service delivery practices.

Andrew Hugill

Director, Policy & Technical Affairs at Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT)

Andrew leads CIHT’s Policy and Technical Affairs outputs across a wide range of areas.

Throughout his career Andrew has been focussed on the development of improved highway services in the UK and has over 35 years’ experience of the highways and transportation sector both in the public and private sectors.

Before joining CIHT in 2013 he was Director of Central and Local Government services at Atkins where he provided advice to a range of clients in the sector.

Andrew joined Atkins in January 2006 from 4ps where he was a senior executive advising local authorities on the best way to develop, procure and deliver PFI and PPP schemes.

Andrew’s professional background is in the local authority highways sector developing major schemes and services and started his career working for a Civil Engineering contractor.

Ann Carruthers

Director of Environment and Transport at Leicestershire County Council

Ann Carruthers is Director of Environment and Transport for Leicestershire County Council responsible for all highways, transport, environment and waste services. She leads a team of 1,000 people operating a predominantly in-house delivery model.

Prior to this Ann worked with local authorities across Scotland and England and also spent a number of years as National Travel Demand Manager with Transit New Zealand, responsible for introducing sustainable transport options across New Zealand’s state highway system.

Ann is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, Vice Chair of ADEPT’s Transport and Connectivity Board, Chair of Midlands Highway Alliance+ and a member of the Highways Sector Council.

Dan Turner

Low Carbon City Officer - Planning at Plymouth City Council

Dan is a Low Carbon City Officer at Plymouth City Council and is leading on their strategy for EV infrastructure. Dan has a background in the renewable energy sector having working in the UK and US on commercial scale solar and energy policy. He has experience on Innovate UK and European funded projects covering a range of low carbon technologies. He has helped deliver EV infrastructure for the Council’s fleet vehicles, for local businesses, V2G, marine charging and is currently working on on-street infrastructure and mobility hubs.

David Ogden

Operations Director UK Contracting at Colas

David Ogden joined the Colas Ltd senior team in May 2020 as Operations Director with responsibility for the regional contracting activities in highways and aviation across the UK.

For over 20 years, David has successfully delivered divisional and national accountabilities in operational, commercial, procurement and financial disciplines within the Construction, Utilities and Highways sectors.

Prior to joining Colas, David was Business Director for Highways at Amey, responsible for Local Government Highways, Streetlighting, Traffic Management and Ministry of Defence businesses, and also lead the strategic development and innovation programmes for the highway’s division.

He is also actively involved in sector wide projects as vice chair or PIARC UK and a CIHT Council Member.

Debbie Cavanagh

UK Sales Manager at Safecote

Debbie has worked for Safecote Ltd for almost 13 years as UK Sales Manager. Previous roles in highways traffic intelligence and electronic security.

During that period Debbie has played a conduit role in bringing innovative winter operational products to the UK market. Having partnership arrangements in place with a number of German and Swedish companies, Debbie has experienced first hand how improved technologies have been proven to offer a higher standard of performance whilst also creating efficiencies, which Debbie has shared with local authorities around the UK.

Dominic Browne

Editor at Highways Magazine

Dominic Browne is the editor of Highways Magazine and the website Transport Network. He has worked in journalism for over 10 years, having previously been the editor of the long-running Surveyor magazine, which merged with Highways. He has written for The Independent, as well as the leading local government magazine, The MJ. He previously worked in political journalism before moving into trade publications.

Dr Alex Wright

Chief Technologist at Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)

Alex is a physicist, with over two decades' experience in the development and implementation of technologies in the transport sector. In his role as Chief Technologist at TRL Alex supports the development of strategy for the use of technology and provides technical direction to projects. He has successfully led a wide range of research at TRL, particularly in the areas of asset management and new technologies, and has been instrumental in the introduction of new systems on the local and strategic road networks for surface and structural condition assessment. He provides input to the whole technology lifecycle from system development through to testing and acceptance, the delivery of Advice and the development of strategy and policy.

Dr Helen Viner

Director at ENODAMUS Ltd

Helen is an experienced analyst and researcher who has worked extensively in road surface characteristics. She is director of Enodamus Ltd and helped to found ITEN, a network of independent transport consultants.

Dr Hugh Deeming

Principal Consultant at HD Research

Dr Hugh Deeming is a research consultant based in Bentham, North Yorkshire. His research interests are ‘community resilience’ and UK civil protection/resilience.

Following his earlier review of Cumbria’s response to Storm Desmond, Hugh has recently submitted a review commissioned by DfT, which has identified lessons for the sector from its experiences of managing extreme-weather events (2015-2020).

His work currently includes working with John Lamb (LGTAG) and others to develop a state-of-the-art highways Rapid Impact Assessment tool (Stormchain), and the development of a bespoke course to strengthen sector senior managers’ competencies in the delivery of Integrated Emergency Management (IEM).

Dwayne Lowe

Head of Highways and Transportation at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and LCRIG Board Member

Dwayne is the Head of Highways and Transportation at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council with extensive experience within in local government gained from undertaking a series of progressively demanding roles.

Representing ‘People’ on our board Dwayne is responsible to provide oversight and report upon building a support framework of people around LCRIG and for developing the entry into the sector for internships, traineeships and apprenticeships. He is particularly passionate about promoting careers within the highways sector, creating opportunities for all, personal development and creating routes into the industry via local government.

Edward Nelson

Head of Local Delivery at Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV)

Edward currently heads up a team in the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) that works with cities and local areas to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. OZEV is a cross government team working to support this transition, which includes work on strategy and vehicle incentives, EV chargepoint policy, the energy system, chargepoint and vehicle grants, and R&D and Innovation.

Edward was previously in the Smart Energy team at BEIS, working on demand side response (DSR), in the context of supporting the transition to an increasingly smart and flexible energy system. Before that he worked on renewable generation support schemes at Ofgem, and held related positions in the Welsh and Scottish Government. His PhD was on hydropower policy and sustainability in Scotland and Norway.

Emily See

Senior Consultant, Infrastructure Asset Management at Yotta and Vice Chair of LGTAG's Highways and Infrastructure Management Board

As Senior Infrastructure Asset Management Consultant at Yotta, Emily has delivered asset management consultancy services across the UK, South America and Australia. Emily is passionate about supporting local authorities with their asset management and digital transformation journeys and is also keen to promote the need for change with regards to the climate emergency.

Emily is keen to support the industry and sits as Vice Chair of LGTAGs Highway and Infrastructure Board.

Gary Schofield

Technical Manager - Bitumen Division at TotalEnergies

Gary Joined the industry in 1983 as a Junior Chemist with Lanfina Bitumen. He has been involved in the technical side of the industry ever since, expanding his roles to look after the HSE side of the business and the Quality side at various points through his career. He has represented his Company on many Technical and HSE committees in UK and Europe.

Gary has a passion for well managed innovation, particularly focused on enhancing durability of materials and for product education through all levels of the supply chain. He firmly believes transparency, honesty and clarity of communications is key to moving the industry forward.

Ian Anderson

Director of Legal Services and Partnerships at Hull City Council

Ian has enjoyed a long career in local government, working within all forms of local government. In his present position as a Director at Hull City Council, he leads the customer focussed and governance services of the Council as well as fulfilling the role of Senior Information Risk Officer. His passion for enabling the community to benefit from the data that a local authority manages on their behalf led to him authoring then sponsoring the city’s Smart City Strategy. Through that strategy the City procured a Smart City Platform through which to realise the benefits of real time data to improve customer service delivery.

Ian Large

Chair - LCRIG Infrastructure Innovation Board at Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG)

Ian is the Performance Manager for Highways and Traffic Management Services at Blackpool Council, he is a highly accomplished Senior Officer who has a consistently successful record of leading high-performance teams in the management and delivery of all aspects of highway maintenance schemes, capital schemes and utility works.

Demonstrating a robust ground-up expertise and a consistent professional approach, he has strong project management skills, comprehensive technical and legal knowledge, and excellent interpersonal and communication skills. At Blackpool Ian is the lynch pin between the Political Members and the highways service, together with management responsibility for internal and external projects, scrutinising quality, identifying potential problems, and providing commercially sound solutions. More importantly Ian is a key member of LCRIG and leads innovation and progression in the Authorities approach to highway maintenance, asset management and its engagement with suppliers he is a keen advocate of innovation and new ideas, in particular fostering a collaborative approach across the Highway Community.

Always pushing to achieve more, to gain best value, working together and approaching things collaboratively, Ian sees this approach as an absolute ‘must do’ for the future.

Jason Sprague

Consultant at Sprague & Co

Jason is passionate about the future of transport, digital innovation, and highways' role in delivering a sustainable future. His experience stems from leading projects in the private sector developing electric vehicle governance services to interim roles building and leading multi-national consortiums for traffic management infrastructure. He has recently founded Sprague & Co to address the commercial and innovation barriers preventing the transport sector from accelerating into Net Zero. As such, Jason has joined to support LCRIG's Chief Executive in developing commercial tools to improve access for Councils to innovations and aid them in undertaking agile procurement.

New solutions and atypical approaches have been the hallmark of Jason's involvement in the highways and transport sector. After completing his MBA at the Bristol Business School, a global engineering consultancy hired Jason to address digital and operating model challenges for network operators. The project successes led to complex procurements, insourcing and creating governance models to support better supply chain alignment. As a result of this work, Jason was elected to the Association of Project Management (APM) Contracts and Procurement Special Interest Group (C&P SIG) as co-chair. In addition, he is a co-author of APM's Procuring for Agile Whitepaper, downloadable from the APM website. Jason is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), participating in projects addressing access to public infrastructure and has been an active Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), where he advocated for the importance of staff empowerment within organisational change.

Joe Incutti

Group Managing Director - Highways at Kier Group

A member of the Kier Group Executive Committee, Joe is the Group Managing Director for Kier's market leading Highways business which employs 3,000 people operating across over 70 sites across the country. The business has responsibility for some 35,000 km of England’s strategic and local road networks, enabling billions of vehicle miles to be travelled each year. Kier Highways also designs and builds new highway infrastructure, and undertakes asset improvements and renewals, across the country. Over his many years of experience in the business, Joe has overseen its growth from an annual turnover of £70m to over £900m.

Joe is focused on building long-term collaborative business relationships with clients and the supply chain, and is actively engaged across the highways sector with clients, government, peers and industry bodies.

Joe is a Chartered Management Accountant with extensive post qualification experience in roles that have spanned operational and corporate finance, change management, process re-engineering and business improvement. This experience has been gained in several sectors including; automotive, rail, defence, banking, construction and infrastructure services, primarily in blue chip organisations.

John Lamb

Past President of the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (LGTAG) at LGTAG

John Lamb is well known across the UK Highways and Transportation sector.

Often parachuted into some of the biggest challenges of the day across the Highway Sector, John has been referred to the Highway’s equivalent of the famous US Oilwell Firefighter ‘Red Adair’. He continues to lead key sector wide work on Resilience and Response to major incidents and is personally leading new and exciting ways to support front line teams and management.

He currently serves on the Highway Sector Council and is passionate about creating a Sector Deal that support better funding and drives innovation. Nationally, John also serves on UKRLG which brings together national and local government from across the UK to consider all aspects highways & transportation.

John has held Directorships at a number of Councils including Manchester, Trafford, Calderdale, Thurrock, Braintree Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex. Prior to that for nearly ten years he led key commercial sector Airport development including Parliamentary processes for Heathrow T5 and Stansted Airport.

Through his own micro consultancy now John supports local Councils to help transform services. He has supported councils through periods of rapid change and transformation – often reversing declining service delivery and project turn around.

His broad and diverse public and private experience has created one of the UK’s most experienced Leaders who has achieved impact across Place and Public Realms of various towns, cities and counties. He has worked with, and received accolades includes the British Army, DfT, the Environment Agency and cross party endorsements as he works to build consensus.

Past President of LGTAG his leadership and legacy has helped build strong links across the regions, new and sharper focus on key priorities and overseeing a renewed membership offer.

Jonny Thynne

Director at Thynne Creative

Julian O’Kelly

Head of Technology Innovation and Research at British Parking Association

Julian helps the BPA membership understand and respond to the opportunities and challenges in the rapidly evolving worlds of parking and mobility, from carbon reduction, energy, data and apps to active travel, connected and electric vehicles. He brings a wealth of experience from leadership and research roles to support partnerships across the public, private and academic sectors to support sustainable, innovative solutions to their common challenges. He co-hosts the popular BPA podcast ‘Beyond Parking’, and leads on a range of national initiatives including Park Active, which aims to provide a framework for the parking sector to enable active travel, tailored to local needs and supporting high streets.

Karla Jakeman

Connected Transport Innovation Lead at Innovate UK

Karla is the Innovation Lead for Connected Transport, part of the Land & Maritime Transport Team at Innovate UK and is also the Vice Chair of ITS(UK) and a member of the Highways Sector Council. She is seeking solutions which use innovative technologies to leverage a smarter, greener and more connected transport system for the efficient movement of people and goods around the world. Prior to Innovate UK, she worked for 15 years at a large automotive company as a Design Quality Engineer.

Keith Williams

Director at Parking Matters

Keith is a parking data and systems expert and has been an innovator in the field of payment systems and parking technology solutions for over 20 years.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS) and also the APDS’ Technical Steering Committee. He has led on use case production in the development of the APDS specifications. He is a designated parking expert to ISO by BSI (British Standards Institute), contributing to APDS’ adoption as ISO standard TS5206-1.

Keith is the Parking Matters lead for the National Parking Platform.

Kully Boden

Streetpride Service Manager at Derby City Council

Kully is Streetpride Service Manager for Highways Maintenance at Derby City. She has worked for local government for 31 years and the last 11 years in highways maintenance. Managing a front line workforce and an asset management team/highway inspectors, Kully is championing a risk based approach in all highway maintenance activities.

Her team were recently awarded APSE Best Service Team: Highways in September 2021, for showcasing their approach to managing their highway network, upskilling the workforce and investing in new machinery. With increased levels of funding too, the dedicated workforce are committed to doing the right thing for Derby residents.

Lee Merces

Managing Director at Highway Workforce

Lee has accumulated over 35 years industry experience from senior roles in client, consultant and contracting organisations, working on a wide range of infrastructure and maintenance projects. In 2017, Lee founded Highway Workforce with the key objective of delivering low carbon maintenance solutions and maximising the service life of our clients’ assets.

Highway Workforce has since established itself as a smart constructor in the highways and utility sectors and is working hard to encourage collaboration, creative thinking, and efficient use of resources.

Marie-Claude Hemming

Director of External Affairs at The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)

Marie-Claude is an experienced communications and policy professional with special interests in roads, highways maintenance and procurement. Having started her career in public affairs consultancy, she moved to a policy role at the Federation of Small Businesses in 2009, before joining CECA as Industry and Public Affairs Manager in 2012, becoming Head of External Affairs in 2014. She leads the team on all policy, public affairs and media relations activity, and also plays a key role in CECA's strategy and business development. In 2017, Marie-Claude was promoted to the position of Director of External Affairs.

Mark Entwistle

Managing Director at KaarbonTech

Mark Entwistle is the founder and managing director of KaarbonTech, providing innovative highway asset management technology. Prior to KaarbonTech, Mark spent 10 years managing local authority contracts for a national drainage contractor. Over this time he saw the benefits of asset management and geospatial planning and followed the DfT drive for innovative approaches.

Having had exposure to most of the software products on the market he realised that the opportunities for the sector were not being supported by adequate technology. Mark says “So many software products failed to deliver because they didn’t understand the mindset of highways workers and the challenges the industry faces”.

This was the catalyst to start KaarbonTech and build a software product wrapped around the local authority market and the way complex assets like drainage are managed. Today KaarbonTech is central to the management of drainage planning in over 60 authorities, representing more than 40% of the local authority highways network in England.

Neil Levett

Director/Main Board Director at Levett Business Services/Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) & ITS (UK)

Neil was the owner and Publisher of Highways magazine for over 21 years during which time the magazine became the premier publication in the sector. During this time the business launched complimentary offerings such as Highways on Fridays, Highways Magazine Excellence Awards and the outdoor exhibition, Seeing is Believing.

After selling the company he set up his own private consultancy business offering strategic advice to businesses operating in the Highways sector and, with an unrivalled network of contacts, he is well situated to support this. Neil also acts as a National Council Member of the Institute of Highway Engineers and is a main Board Director of ITS(UK).

Paul Aldridge

Group Sustainability Director at WJ

Paul has extensive experience in the highways industry having joined in 1982 and has worked tirelessly both within WJ and the industry to raise the profile of Sustainability and the need to take serious action to address the many challenges faced in the UK.

Appointed WJ Group Sustainability Director April 2018, he is also Current Vice Chair RSMA, Chair NHSS 7 Advisory Committee, Highways England Supplier Diversity Forum, member of Fairness, Inclusion and Respect in Construction National Steering Group, Safer Highways Board Member, FIHE, PIEMA.

Paul Richardson

Managing Partner at 2innov8

Paul’s experience spans decades at DHL, as Chief Innovation Officer he created and spearheaded leading an entrepreneurial ecosystem, driving creativity and implementing breakthrough solutions for customers across all market verticals.

A diverse background with decades of experience in the industry, operating at board level for 12 years, Paul has spent 24 years at DHL including:

• Present - CEO for Connected Safety Net and www.gage.digital – leading the development of transformational technologies that enable businesses to significantly improve service and cost performance.

• Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Customer Officer - Leading transformational digital solutions and sales growth for the UK and Ireland DHL supply chain.

• Managing director for specialist services - Technology, Aviation ground logistics and above the wing catering. Rail catering. Enviro solutions as well as Uniform and body armour procurement for National police services for 4 years.

Paula Claytonsmith

Executive Director, Government at Gaist and LCRIG Board Member

As part of Gaist’s Founder Director group, Paula works closely with Government, including DfT with PIARC around rural policy, innovation and works regularly with Ministers across Whitehall.

Paula is an outstanding, enthusiastic, public sector strategist, performance specialist and innovator; and has been at the heart of public sector transformation and local government improvement for several years. With key roles at national and government advisory level, Paula has an impressive legacy of being involved with high profile government initiatives and sectoral change for the benefit of local government.

It was Paula's passion and innovations that led to the first ever 'Service based' Peer reviews within local government being developed in 2002 using unique Warwick University academic insights. These have gone on to be the bedrock of service improvement beyond 2005.

In more recent years Paula has continued to be involved in improvement, service change and sectoral challenge; including as an advisor developing an innovative 'Efficiency' model that allowed Defra to understand efficiency gains and failures in the environmental sector as a whole.

Paula Hewitt

Deputy Chief Executive, Lead Director for Economic and Community Infrastructure and Director of Commissioning/President at Somerset County Council/Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT)

Paul Hewitt is the President of ADEPT (Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport).

Paula is the Deputy Chief Executive, Lead Director for Economic and Community Infrastructure and also the Director of Commissioning at Somerset County Council. She has a diverse mix of responsibilities including highways and transport, waste, planning, economic development, property, environment, registration services and libraries.

She has led a number of high-profile service transformation programmes, delivering innovation and partnerships to secure customer benefits and financial savings.
Paula’s achievements include leading the Council’s work in relation to accommodating and securing a legacy from the largest construction project in Western Europe, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Other notable achievements are establishing a heritage trust, securing significant Government and private sector investment in transport corridors and schemes and developing a network of innovation and enterprise centres to deliver increased productivity and prosperity.

Paula was heavily involved in co-ordinating the Local Authority response to the devastating Somerset winter 2014/15 floods and led the work to minimise future flooding in the county through the establishment of the Somerset Rivers Authority. Paula is currently leading the Council’s work on recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Paula is responsible for the development of commissioning practice in Somerset County Council working closely with adult services, children services and public heath colleagues.

Phil Lightowler

Head of Public Transport at Kent County Council

Phil Lightowler, Heads up Kent County Council’s Public Transport team who manage the provision of public and education transport for a county of 1.6M. With a budget of £70M in total, the depart is responsible for delivery of supported bus services, concessionary fares for both ENCTS/students, procurement of SEN transport and Fastrack BRT. Kent, pre pandemic saw annual bus use of 51M, with 16M ENCTS journeys and 35,000 students using the concessionary travel scheme. Kent has a comprehensive, well used network, probably the largest outside of Metropolitan areas of England. The authority is now working on its BSIP, the recovery from the pandemic and a range of other Public Transport projects.

Phil has been with KCC for seven years, before this holding a number of roles in Public Transport in the UK and internationally.

Richard Stacey

Chair at National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG)

I work for Hertfordshire County Council as Winter Manager. My other duties include PTRO’s, managing the District/Borough Parking Agreements and Strategic Lead for Signs and Lines.

I have overseen the rewriting of gritting routes, coming up with a new criterion, overseen a salt bin review and worked to incorporate footways in line with new guidance and HCC’s LTP4 proposals. I have presented at Cold Comfort and the Winter Workshop in Exeter.

I am Chair of the Findlay Irvine Steering Group, working with other Authorities to develop the system.

In 2020 I became the Chair of the NWSRG (National Winter Service Research Group) taking over from Chris Cranston.

Rick Green

Chair at Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA)

Rick has over 25 years’ operational and commercial experience in the highway construction and maintenance sector. With a civil engineering background, he has held senior positions across the asphalt industry and has been Managing Director for Hanson UK subsidiary, Midland Quarry Products, since 2019.

As Chair of the AIA since 2017, Rick has been a driving force in its campaign to increase awareness of the asphalt industry and to promote the uses and benefits of asphalt to specifiers, policymakers and the general public. A key part of this has been highlighting the need for sustained investment in local roads.

Robert Tait

Sales Director at Rennicks UK

Providing products, solutions and services into both public and private sectors, Robert has 25 years’ experience working in the highway infrastructure industry. Starting his career working in the project management and delivery of temporary traffic management schemes for large scale events, Robert champions the necessity of providing road user customers with the critical information necessary to make informed and quick decisions to continue their journey safely. In his role as Sales Director at Rennicks UK, he is passionate about the provision of compliant, practical and sustainable premium road safety products, solutions and systems that not only enable road users to make informed decisions but also enable authorities to monitor, manage and influence activities on their road networks.

Ross Bullerwell

Managing Director at NY Highways

More 25 years’ experience in Highways from both the public to private sector; from contracting to material manufacturing and technology, from apprentice to Managing Director. A firm believer in embracing innovation and embedding cultures within organisations that lead to new ways of working and accepting that they’ll be some literal bumps in the road on the way.

Scott Bloxsom

Founder at Essency Consulting Limited

Scott is Chartered Professional Engineer with over 25 years’ experience in a wide range of asset management and engineering projects. Scott has worked extensively with both public and private sector clients in Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, East Africa and the Middle East advising and implementing asset management principles and performance-based contract delivery and review. In the UK since 2010, Scott has worked with over 35 Local Authorities across England, providing strategic and tactical asset management advice and consultancy services to improve highways practices and develop organizational capability.

He is the Principal and founder of Essency Consulting Limited, an asset management consultancy delivering tailored services to clients in the infrastructure sectors.

He is a Chartered member of Engineers Australia, a member of the Institute of Asset Management (UK) and Asset Management Council of Australia, and a qualified assessor to the ISO55000 and PAS55:2008 Asset Management standards.

Sean Rooney

Head of Service - Highway Maintenance at Oxfordshire County Council and LCRIG National Advocate

Sean is the Head of Service – Highway Maintenance at Oxfordshire County Council, having previously been employed as the Head of Highways and Transportation for a number of other councils.

Sean is particularly passionate about bringing members of the highways sector together to share skills and knowledge for the benefit of everyone.

Steve Birdsall

CEO at Gaist

A leader in his field, Steve has more than 30 years’ experience in specialist data management systems and the strategic management of infrastructure and assets. Since founding Gaist in 2007, Steve and his senior management team have gone on to create one of the most innovative, technologically advanced companies across the Highways and Geospatial sectors. Gaist's advanced mapping and modelling capabilities are enabling new possibilities for understanding the world around us, forcing sectors to rethink how they manage processes, data and information.