Fit for Future Sponsorship

David Hughes

Arup

David Hughes was appointed Director General for the Rail Infrastructure Group at the Department for Transport (DfT) in January 2021. He leads and oversees the DfT portfolio of major rail investment projects (excluding HS2. This portfolio includes Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Integrated Rail Plan, the Transpennine Route Upgrade, Restoring Your Railway, other Network Rail enhancements, East West Rail and Crossrail.

David joined DfT from Transport for the North, where he was Strategy and Programme Director. Prior to that, he spent 15 years at Transport for London (TfL) where he led the development and planning of major project rail infrastructure projects including Crossrail, the Northern Line Extension and upgrades on the London Underground.

Before working in the transport sector, David held roles at Deloitte, the Ministry of Defence and NATO.

Professor Carl Gavin

Professor of Project Management and Director of Executive Education, University of Liverpool Management School

Carl is a Professor of Project Management at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), University of Manchester, and is a director of several bespoke executive education programmes – on project management, project leadership and project sponsorship – for multi-national companies delivering complex projects, including BAE Systems and BP.

Carl has 37 years’ experience in project management, directing and managing large-scale projects for a diverse range of businesses and public sector organisations. Prior to joining AMBS he was Managing Director of a projects-based business in the North West of England.

Over the years, Carl has been chair of trustees for a number of public sector organisations and social inclusion charities.

Jenifer Carruthers

Head of Site Management Project Office, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Jenifer is a Senior Business Leader at Sellafield’s nuclear fuel reprocessing and decommissioning site in West Cumbria, with 25 years’ experience of working in the nuclear industry.

Having graduated in Civil & Structural Engineering at the University of Liverpool, Jenifer’s early career was spent working as an Engineer for Magnox Electric Plc across the fleet of first-generation nuclear reactors, including their hydroelectric power station North Wales. She joined British Nuclear Fuels Engineering in 2000, taking a key role in the £50m Plutonium Contaminated Materials (PCM) Retrievals Project, before joining Sellafield Ltd in 2005 in an operational role as the Head of Operations, bringing online a new intermediate level waste interim safe storage facility.

Jenifer’s most recent accomplishments include bringing online Sellafield’s £740m new build flagship Evaporator D facility through inactive and active commissioning and into active operations and more recently, responsibility for delivering £300m scope over 200 asset care and infrastructure projects in her role as the Head of Site Management Project Office.

Richard Zavitz

Lead Sponsor, Transport for London

Richard Zavitz is an experienced project professional working in the sponsorship of major capital investment projects through the full investment lifecycle. He is a trusted leader who proactively works to ensure business investment outcomes are realised through collaboration, challenge and support of the business management and project teams.

Richard is currently the Lead Sponsor for a number of Transport for London's major projects. He has been at Transport for London since 2014 when he joined as Sponsor of the Future Station Capacity Programme.

Richard has extensive knowledge of the major project sector and is the Chair of the Sponsorship Network hosted by the Major Projects Association.

Owen Kennedy

Head of Governance, Strategy and Development, National Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority (NISTA)

no bio

Satish Luhar

Consultant, KPMG LLP

Sastish is a Consultant at The Nichols Group specialising in the delivery of Net Zero and complex major infrastructure projects. He works with public and private sector clients across a wide range of sectors, advising on their transition to zero emissions and how to commence and improve their projects for better outcomes.

Satish has helped clients in zero emissions transport technology development, hydrogen for heating, supporting UNFCCC negotiations, and leading the National Infrastructure Commission research to deliver emissions free freight transport.

Satish is also Vice Chair of the Major Project Association’s Sustainability Ambassadors Group and was heavily involved in the early stages of the Association’s Net Zero Position Paper.

Freda Quinlan

Head of Capital Programme Office, National Transport Authority

Freda Quinlan is a major programme and finance leader experienced across a diverse range of industries in both the public and private sectors – transport, management consulting, supply chain and operations, and retail. She is the Head of the National Transport Authority in Ireland’s Capital Programme Office, responsible for the financial management and governance of a €15+ billion capital programme over the lifetime of Ireland’s current National Development Plan.

Freda recently graduated 2nd in her class from Oxford University, having completed a Masters in Major Programme Management in September 2022. She completed research with the University on the institutional barriers and enablers to effective risk management across major public programmes in Ireland.

She is a member of the Advisory Group for Ireland’s Office of Government Procurement’s Commercial Skills Academy which is dedicated to best practice approaches for effective delivery throughout a major programme’s lifecycle.

Freda is a people oriented, spirited leader specialised in the establishment and leadership of diverse, high-performing, agile teams. This month, she spearheaded the delivery of a significant programme of events for International Women’s Day in Ireland, including:

Cities Alice – Designing Cities that Work for Women

Data Bias in a World Built for Men; and

How Women’s Networks Could Support a Culture Change in the Major Programmes Industry.

Melissa Giusti

Principal Innovation Advisor, National Highways

Melissa Giusti is Principal Innovation Advisor at National Highways. She has been working in Innovation projects for the past six years, always with a focus on Transport. Melissa has been a Project Sponsor for very different innovative projects, ranging from in-vehicle technologies advising on driving behaviour that reduces emissions, to running hackathons. She has been involved in foresighting and recently explored the impacts of new technologies, such as quantum computers.

As Project Sponsor, Melissa is responsible for business cases and benefits realisation from innovation investment. She oversees and manages projects, in liaison with suppliers, subject matter experts, and senior leaders, and it is always her first objective to make sure that innovation findings and impacts are disseminated effectively.

Sarah Rial

Health, Equity and Social Outcomes Lead, Jacobs

Sarah is the Social Value Delivery Lead at Jacobs, leading a team of social value specialists to support clients in the development and delivery of award-winning social value approaches across the UK and globally.

Sarah has experience in leadership and delivery of social value and sustainability across multiple sectors including transport, education, energy, health, and the built environment. She has worked to deliver positive outcomes and greater value for clients, funders and communities on prestigious projects such as Thames Tideway, Crossrail, Northern Line Extension, St Thomas and Guys Hospitals, Brighton 3T’s Hospitals, East West Rail and the TransPennine Route Upgrade.

Sarah is also the Founder and Chair of the first Major Project Social Value Forum, designed to share best practice and drive thought leadership. Membership includes notable projects such as HS2, Tideway, Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewals, Sizewell, Sellafield Ltd, East West Rail, TransPennine Route Upgrade and many others.

Nour Sidawi

Commercial Lead, Ministry of Justice

Nour has experience of commercial and operational delivery roles across government, spanning the last 10 years. She joined the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as a Commercial Lead within the construction division in January 2020. Her work involves driving change in how the department undertakes supplier relationship management on a £5bn+ strategic transformation programme. She is a chartered procurement and supply professional.

Immediately prior to joining MoJ, Nour worked in the Ministry of Defence on multiple strategic, high profile transformation programmes and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, where she was responsible for providing commercial support overseas.

Nour is a recognised leader within her organisation for delivering complex transformation programmes and developing people, and is sought out to provide insight, challenge, and sponsorship of organisational change activities across government.

Sarah Jane Crawford

Principal Programme Sponsor, Network Rail Ltd

no bio

John Grinnell

Senior Commercial Development Manager - The Euston Partnership, HS2 Ltd

Senior Commercial Development Manager – The Euston Partnership

Joined HS2 Limited in 2020 and manages the development opportunities for over site development on and around Euston Station and the management of the Master Development Partner (Lendlease).

Having over three decades of direct development experience John is focussed on ensuring the optimisation of benefits arising to all parties as outcomes of this major infrastructure project and associated development for the community, London and nationally.

Kerry Bangle

Major Projects Director, WSP

Kerry (MAPM, FCILT) is WSP’s Major Projects Director with over 25 years’ experience in a wide variety of transport, advisory and major project roles in the UK and Australia. Kerry particularly enjoys dealing with the challenge of high-profile infrastructure projects in complex and politically-charged environments, with multiple stakeholders where priorities and objectives compete. She has held senior roles on HS2, Crossrail, airport expansion projects, and Cambridge’s ambitious road user charging scheme. She is currently WSP’s Programme Director for Sizewell C.

Kerry is particularly passionate about bringing forward the next generation of major project professionals and ensuring better representation of women in the industry. She is a STEM ambassador and mentor and speaks frequently at conferences and All-Party Parliamentary Groups on transport, infrastructure and diversity.

David Hughes

Arup

David Hughes was appointed Director General for the Rail Infrastructure Group at the Department for Transport (DfT) in January 2021. He leads and oversees the DfT portfolio of major rail investment projects (excluding HS2. This portfolio includes Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Integrated Rail Plan, the Transpennine Route Upgrade, Restoring Your Railway, other Network Rail enhancements, East West Rail and Crossrail.

David joined DfT from Transport for the North, where he was Strategy and Programme Director. Prior to that, he spent 15 years at Transport for London (TfL) where he led the development and planning of major project rail infrastructure projects including Crossrail, the Northern Line Extension and upgrades on the London Underground.

Before working in the transport sector, David held roles at Deloitte, the Ministry of Defence and NATO.