How Transport is helping to Regenerate Manchester

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Jon Lamonte – Chief Executive; Transport for Greater Manchester

Jon Lamonte joined Transport for Greater Manchester as CEO in 2013.  His portfolio covers rail, bus, tram, highways, cycling and other forms of active transport.  He contributes to the broad community in Greater Manchester through his role with the Wider Leadership Team comprising of Chief Executives of the districts, Chief Constable, Chief Fire Officer and New Economy.

Jon Lamonte was the CEO of Tube Lines from 2011 – 12, including the critical period of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tube Lines, as part of Transport for London, was responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the Underground infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. This includes track, trains, signals and stations.

Jon joined from the Royal Air Force where he fulfilled a number of senior operational roles and led major project delivery. His most recent role was Chief of Staff, Strategy, Policy and Plans, which included co-leading the strategic defence and security review into the maritime programme for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This identified considerable savings opportunities from the current structure and planned procurement of the Royal Navy over the next decade, whilst producing a coherent and viable force capable of meeting a range of scenarios into the future.

Prior to this Jon was Director General Finance for Defence Equipment and Support, the MoD’s £17bn a year procurement and logistics organisation. Other roles included running the RAF’s largest base, Brize Norton, with over 4,500 people and three fleets of transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft.  He served in the Falklands, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia.

An active member of the Institute of Directors, Jon has strong experience in leading change, driving efficiency and motivating large workforces.  He achieved a PhD in History from Birmingham University in 2011.

Martin Jurkowski– Network Rail Programme Director for the Northern Hub

Martin Jurkowski has over 25 years of experience in the rail sector with a variety of organisations from British Rail, through contractors and designers, and now with Network Rail. He leads Network Rail’s work on the Northern Hub, a major enhancement programme to drive economic growth across the North of England by increasing capacity to the rail network and improve journey opportunities and connectivity. He has previously worked on a wide variety of major rail projects including Thameslink, West Coast Route Modernisation, and Leeds station remodelling & resignalling.

John Twigg – Group Planning Director, Manchester Airport

John is professionally qualified as a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and Fellow of the Institution of Highways & Transportation. A qualified town planner, he has spent his working life in the North West in both the public and private sectors.  He joined the newly formed Airport Company in 1988 and has progressed through a variety of positions to his current role, where he is responsible for land use planning and strategic master planning and transport policy for the Group’s 4 UK airports (Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth & Humberside).  He has been responsible for the Company’s land use, environmental, development and transport strategies. These have been responsible for positioning Manchester as one of the leading businesses and airports in the UK in delivering sustainable airport growth.  He played a pivotal role in the planning and delivery of a second runway at Manchester – still a unique  achievement among UK airports.

Jessica Bowles – Head of City Policy; Manchester City Council

Jessica Bowles is Head of City Policy at Manchester City Council and has lead work on the GM City Deal and to establish the GM Enterprise Zone.  Prior to taking this role she worked as a secondee from the Senior Civil Service on a diverse portfolio of high profile projects including the Regional Growth Fund programme; Community Budgets – which bring an investment approach to public services in the most deprived areas; and the future business plan for the Corridor Manchester partnership.

Before taking up posts in Manchester Jessica worked for 15 years in central Government leading diverse policy areas such as road pricing, maritime security and rough sleeping and leading the Department for Transport’s strategic engagement with the major cities across the north of England.

Clinton Leeks OBE – Director of External and Parliamentary Relations

Clinton Leeks, OBE, is External and Parliamentary Relations Director at HS2 Ltd. He is also an experienced consultant, advising UK and international businesses at senior level on strategy, government relations, procurement, business development, corporate PR and community relations issues.

Between 2006 and 2011 Clinton was Corporate Affairs Director at Crossrail Ltd (CRL), responsible for CRL’s community, stakeholder and media relations, and communications programmes for the Crossrail project. He stood down as Director on 6 April 2011, but continued to advise both the Crossrail Chairman on corporate affairs issues, and on the Crossrail Art Programme to integrate art into all the central stations.

Clinton joined CRL from the North of England Refugee Service, where he was Operations Manager. This followed five years as a senior consultant in the UK and Hong Kong.

Before this Clinton was a Director at the Hong Kong Airport Authority where, during the construction and opening of the new airport, he led the authority’s external relations team in its relationships with Government, the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, the business, travel and tourism sectors, and political and community groups from 1992 to 1998. He has also held various senior roles within the Hong Kong Government, and in the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

He has been a Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and in England from 2005 to date, and was awarded an OBE in 1999.