Dominic Booth, Abellio UK
Dutch rail provider Abellio will be overseeing £1 billion of investment in the West Midlands rail network over the next nine years. Dominic Booth is managing director of Abellio UK and is responsible for all of its UK business. He has managed rail networks in the south, the west, Wales, Merseyside and East Anglia. During his UK rail career, he has worked for British Rail, Connex, Prism Rail and National Express's trains division.
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, West Midlands Trains
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde is the new boss of West Midlands Trains which succeeds London Midland this month. He joins from Merseyrail where he was managing director before whic hhe was deputy managing director at Abellio UK. He has also worked at South West Trains, Thameslink and Southern and will oversee £1 billion of investment going into the West Midlands rail network over the next nine years.
Dean Finch, National Express
Dean Finch was appointed group chief executive of National Express in 2010. He moved from Tube Lines, the company with responsibility for maintaining and upgrading most of London's Underground system. A chartered accountant by profession, he sat on the board of First Group. National Express, based at Birmingham Coach Station in Digbeth, has become an international transport company with businesses in the UK, Spain and North America. Every year more than 920 million journeys are made on the firm's buses, trains and coaches and it has a fleet of 29,000 vehicles.
Kate Hall, HS2
Civil engineer Kate Hall is design director for HS2 and as such is responsible for leading the team looking after the high speed line's design parameters and ensuring the quality and consistency of all aspects of design related to the high speed project. Before joining HS2 in 2015, Ms Hall was a director at international civil engineering consultancy Arup where she was responsible for 300 engineers based in Arup's Solihull and Nottingham offices. She is a Women's Engineering Society role model.
Phil Whittingham, Virgin Trains
Phil Whittingham is managing director of Virgin Trains. Before that he was director of finance, a post he held since 2008. A chartered accountant by profession, he worked in KPMG's Birmingham office, joining Virgin in 1999. He has held various positions in the finance team, initially having responsibility for business plans. He led Virgin successfully through negotiations with the Department of Transport for its current franchise.
