Page 21 - Great Northern Conference 2020: GAUA

Connecting people, connecting businesses - the future and economic effects of travel
Sponsored by
Jim McMahon, Shadow Transport Minister
Jim McMahon is the Labour (Co-op) MP for Oldham West and Royton, and has been an MP continuously since 3 December 2015. He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
Robert Hough CBE, Peel Airport Group
Robert Hough joined the Peel Group in 1986 and was its Executive Deputy Chairman for many years. He is now Chairman of Peel Airports Group, which includes Liverpool and Doncaster Sheffield Airports. He has been closely involved in many significant projects for the North of England, including as Chair of Manchester’s Commonwealth Games, the North West Regional Development Agency, Liverpool City Region LEP and Board Member of The Northern Way. He has been a Non-Executive Director of several listed companies and Deputy Chair of the University of Manchester Board of Governors. He is currently Chair of the North West Business Leaders Council of Teach First.
Owain Jones, Managing Director, Wizz Air UK
Mr Jones joined Wizz Air as General Counsel in 2010, was promoted to Chief Corporate Officer in June 2014 and appointed as Managing Director of Wizz Air UK in September 2018. Mr Jones is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Having trained at Nicholson Graham & Jones (1994 to 1996), Mr Jones joined Wilde Sapte (now Dentons LLP) in 1996 as a solicitor in its aviation group, specialising in finance and regulatory matters. Mr Jones holds a bachelor of laws degree from University College London.
Allan Cook, Non-Executive Chair, HS2
Allan Cook CBE DSc is a chartered engineer with more than 40 years’ international experience in the infrastructure, automotive, aerospace and defence industries.
His experience includes serving as Co-Chair of the Defence Growth Partnership, Chair of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, as a director of JF Lehman and Company, and as a former lead non-executive director for the then-Department of Business, Innovation and Skills under the coalition government.
Dame Sarah Storey, Active Travel Commissioner, Sheffield City Region
Dame Sarah Storey is Britain’s most successful female Paralympian, with 14 gold medals to her name in both cycling and swimming and more than 30 world championship titles.
In April 2019, Dame Sarah was appointed as Active Travel Commissioner for the Sheffield City Region, a role which involves working alongside Mayor Dan Jarvis to create a region in which more people travel on foot, by bike or by public transport. Dame Sarah has set out four pledges which will define her work as Active Travel Commissioner. These are: being led by communities; enabling walking and cycling rather than encouraging it; requiring infrastructure to meet or exceed requirements; and requiring infrastructure to be accessible for all.
Rob McIntosh, Route Managing Director, Network Rail
Rob undertook a mechanical engineering apprenticeship after leaving school, starting his rail career by becoming a Railtrack graduate in 1996 and has 15 years’ experience of delivering railway projects. As Vice President Delivery at Invensys Rail Northern Europe (now Siemens Rail Automation), Rob was involved with both mainline UK and London Underground projects as well as international projects in Europe and Asia. Now as Managing Director for the Eastern he leads a team of over 10,000 staff and is responsible for operating, maintaining, renewing over a third of the UK rail network miles delivering an extensive capital investment portfolio £1.5 p.a.