Speakers

Lauren Sager Weinstein, Chief Data Officer, Transport for London (TfL)

Lauren Sager Weinstein, Chief Data Officer, at Transport for London (TfL), leads TfL in using our vast amounts of system data to transform how TfL plans and operates transport in London. Lauren created TfL’s Data and Analytics department, building a team of data scientists, data software developers, and analytics translators who provide data tools for TfL to understand customer travel behavior, and analytic tools to operate and plan London’s vast transport network. Her team’s analysis was instrumental during the challenges during Coronavirus, providing TfL, London city officials, UK Government, and the public with information about how travel changed during the Pandemic. Lauren joined TfL in 2002 and she’s held a variety of roles, working on many projects, including the launch of the contactless payment system across London’s transport network. Originally from Washington, DC, USA, she has degrees from Princeton University and from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, who awarded Lauren the 2019 Alumni Award for Digital Innovation. Lauren was named the 2017 UK Chief Data Officer of the year by the CDO Club, and was honoured to be included in The Female Lead’s 20 role models in Data & Technology 2017.

Toufic Machnouk, Director, Industry Partnership for Digital Railway

Toufic Machnouk is Director, Industry Partnership for Digital Railway where he is leading a pioneering cross-industry partnership to create and deliver the next generation railway enabled through digital train control technology.

This represents a once in a generation modernisation of the railways in Great Britain to a safer, higher performing, more resilient, better skilled, more productive, and greener railway, delivering passenger benefits in the areas of safety, punctuality and resilience, and taxpayer benefits in the areas of reduction in infrastructure unit and whole life costs.

The first major programme is on the east coast mainline, a primary economic artery, which has been  established in an innovative user centric industry and commercial partnership model that is the vanguard for digital train control technology deployment on the national railway network.

Having started his career in infrastructure operations, he went on to deliver major projects and programmes. His teams have been recognised for breakthroughs in safety performance, innovation, industry and supplier collaboration, and successfully delivering complex cross-industry change, receiving prestigious national awards.

He is passionate about open innovation and user centric design thinking, speaking at universities and colleges, and mentoring people from across the industry. He holds a degree in Design Engineering and an executive MBA from the University of Bath. He was awarded the prestigious Collaborative Leadership Award by the Institute for Collaborative Working.

Neil Shah, IT & Digital Director, Arriva UK Trains

Neil Shah is the IT & Digital Director at Arriva UK Trains with a remit that ranges from core operational IT through to the digital customer experience. Neil is responsible for developing Arriva UK Trains’ digital, data and technology strategies in order to support the business strategy. Neil is passionate about driving step change in IT, Digital and Data capability along with people development.

With over 22 years’ experience, Neil is a digital strategy, transformation and change leader with experience working across the entire business, product, commercial and programme lifecycle. Neil has been at Arriva for nearly 6 years, starting in the UK Bus business and now in the UK Trains business. Previous industry experience includes travel & tourism, retail and shipping & logistics meaning Neil hopes to bring external best practice to the transport industry.

Matt Peake, UK Policy Director and Government Relations, Trainline 

Matt is Director of UK Policy and Government Relations at Trainline. Prior to Trainline, he led the global policy team at Onfido, the UK-based digital identity scale-up specialising in AI and biometrics. He has previously held tech policy-focused roles at Verizon, Ofcom and the Home Office. Matt holds a law degree, exec MBA, post-graduate diploma in Competition Law from Kings College and diploma in Business International Relations and the Political Economy from the LSE. He is married with three children.

Martin Howell, Director of Transport Markets, Worldline UK&I

Martin Howell is Director of Transport Markets, UK and Ireland for Worldline, and leads their work in smart mobility and strategy for transport.  He was previously vice president at Cubic Corporation in San Diego. He spent 12 years with Cubic Transportation Systems, in operations and business development, as well as leading the company’s customer engagement, external relations and interfaces with government. His previous roles have included business development at HP Enterprise, before which he served as an officer in the Royal Marines Commandos.

Professor Clive Roberts, Director of Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, University of Birmingham

Clive is Professor of Railway Systems and Deputy Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He is Director of the University’s Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, which has over 120 researchers, academics and staff. He works extensively with the rail industry and academia in Britain and overseas, on research and innovation themes which span the railway system, transport systems and associated technologies.

Clive leads a broad portfolio of research aimed at improving the performance of railway systems, including leading the UK Railway Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN), a £92M academia/industry collaboration, as well as initiatives to encourage SMEs to work in the rail sector. In 2017 his group was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education for supporting the UK and international railway industries. His main research interests lie in the areas of railway systems research including: railway simulation, future control strategies, traffic management and operations, condition monitoring, data integration and cybersecurity, power system design and energy efficiency, and overall system integration.