Speakers at Cycling + Walking Innovations

Shown in the order they confirmed...

Russell Fenner

Head of Innovation
E-Car Club

Russell is a Chartered Marketer with over fifteen years of experience working in commercial development and innovation roles in the transport, technology and software markets. He has an MSc in Strategic Marketing and is a PRINCE2 practitioner. In a previous role at EValu8, he focused on growing the Source East charging point network and managing the feasibility study for E-Mobility Hubs. Now at E-Car, he has been developing a project portfolio of transport innovations, including MaaS and last mile solutions alongside business model innovation for entry into new market sectors.

Russell has managed numerous projects including the rollout of the East of England Plugged in Places project, a £1m ERDF project supporting sustainable transport, and the InnovateUK funded Motionhub project. 

Phillip Darnton OBE

Executive Director
Bicycle Association

Phillip spent most of his career with Unilever plc, the Anglo-Dutch multi-national, in marketing and general management positions. Successivley he was President of Lever Brothers, Canada; Managing Director of Unilever's $1 billion business in Brazil, and adviser to the Unilever Board on global strategy. 

He then joined the main Board of Reckitt and Colman as Director of Global Marketing. Since 2000, Phillip has been involved in the world of cycling, initially as Chairman and Chief Executive of Raleigh, and then as a member of the National Cycling Strategy Board. From 2005, until is abolition, he was chair of Cycling England. 

Phillip is the Executive Director of the Bicycle Association; Chair of the Department for Transport's Cycle Rail Working Group, and of the Association of Bikeability Schemes, among other cycling interests. In 2011 he was awarded an OBE for services to cycling.

Laura Peacock

Innovation and Research Manager
Oxfordshire County Council

Coming from a background in Communications, Strategic Planning, Policy development, and leading major Transport Innovation Projects and Bids, Laura has a depth of experience which has enabled her to implement Smart City principles in Oxfordshire. Enabling Oxfordshire to lead the worldwide disruption of how cities live and breathe. She manages the Innovation and Research team at Oxfordshire County Council who are committed to develop and deploy innovative R&D and projects to address the challenges that Cities face. She plays an important role in enabling intelligent infrastructure and mobility systems, as well as implementing projects to improve the local economy, environment and overall quality of life of Oxfordshire’s citizens. She has been at the centre of Smart City activity for the past 4 years which covers the County and Partnerships and has been instrumental in developing links to business and academia, as well as securing external funding for many exciting leading edge projects.   Working with industry partners who are driving disruptive technologies she continues to challenge status quo and drive new solutions for Oxfordshire and implementation beyond. Her ambition  is to create a resilient and sustainable future for Oxfordshire through delivery of transformative operating models, partnerships and applied innovation. 

Chris Boardman MBE 

Cycling & Walking Commissioner
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Chris Boardman MBE is British Cycling’s policy adviser. He is an Olympic gold medallist, three times breaker of the world hour record and worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Chris also works as a commentator for ITV and the BBC, he sat on the National Cycling Strategy Board and co-founded Boardman Bikes.

James Datson

Principal Technologist
Transport Systems Catapult

James joined the Transport Systems Catapult in 2016 to develop their Mobility as a Service (MaaS) programme.  The Transport Systems Catapult provides an important role in facilitating innovation in MaaS in the UK, through collaborating with the public and private sector.   James has over 17 years of experience providing technical and management consultancy services to public and private sector clients, specialising in the field of Intelligent Mobility.  James was lead author of the influential 2016 Transport Systems Catapult report ‘Exploring the Opportunity for Mobility as a Service in the UK’.  James is recognised as a thought-leader in MaaS innovation, he is a Board Member of the EU MaaS Alliance.  James advises SMEs, Transport Operators, OEMs, investors and government policy makers, on the implications of future transport innovation.

Sasha Afanasieva

CEO
Blubel

Sasha Afanasieva is the Founder and CEO of Blubel, a crowdsourcing navigation system for cyclists. After 6 years experience in investment banking, where she led financial transactions in tech & media, Sasha completed the On Purpose Social Leadership Programme. During this time she came up with the idea for Blubel - a device that not only navigates cyclists along quiet and cycle-friendly routes, but also gathers relevant journey data that can improve routing and provide valuable insights for urban planning. Blubel has been launched, with the support of the European Space Agency BIC and after a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign. The company also won the European Space Agency Special Prize at the European Satellite Navigation Competition in 2016.

Rupert Furness

Head of Active and Accessible Travel
Department for Transport 

Rupert Furness is the head of the Active and Accessible Travel team in the UK Department for Transport, where he is responsible for advising Ministers on policies to promote walking and cycling, as well as on how best to ensure that transport is genuinely accessible to all users. His previous posts in the Department for Transport have included heading the London Transport team; heading the Environment Strategy team; and managing the implementation of the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation.  Before joining the DfT in 2003, he worked for a number of other Government Departments including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Cabinet Office. 

Sam Robinson

Director
Love to Ride

With a professional mental health, communications and CSR background, Sam has a wealth of experience creating and delivering engagement, sustainability & large-scale international development programmes. His career has spanned the public, private & voluntary sectors.

Joining the Love to Ride team in early 2011, Sam now manages part of the global Love to Ride team, creating, delivering and monitoring complex behaviour change projects across a range of sectors. His focus is on the UK and EU, with support for global projects across 3 continents.

Erik Tetteroo

APPM/ UK Represent
Dutch Cycling Embassy

Erik Tetteroo is a consultant at APPM for urban planning and bicycle-inclusive mobility. He has studied Architecture at Technical University of Delft and Master City Developer at the University of Rotterdam, where he has developed the concept of HOD.

Erik is senior cycling policy advisor for the Ministry of Transport & Water in the Netherlands, and for the Tour de Force, a joint initiative of the governments for increasing bicycle use. Erik represents the Dutch Cycling Embassy in the UK. He has organized ThinkBike Workshops and lectured at conferences in several countries. 

Julian Scriven

Managing Director
nextbike UK

In addition to over 15 years Executive level experience, Julian has over 25 years’ experience in member and subscription based businesses across awide range of sectors including several years in community focused organisations. Spending ten years in Amsterdam led Julian to view cycling as a more of transport, not a sport.  Julian brings a strong marketing focus to his team.

Tom McGovern

Co-Founder
Urbo

Urbo is an Irish company, with a fusion of expertise in technology and bikes. Our team and partners have deep roots in the bicycle and technology industry, along with extensive experience in the area of urban planning. Urbo's team has worked alongside councils and advocacy groups throughout Europe.

The Urbo's team is driven by the conviction that the best way to promote sustainable and integrated local transit is to offer the most advanced technology and an extremely user-friendly experience.

Roger Geffen MBE

Campaigns and Policy Director
Cycling UK

Roger Geffen’s involvement in cycle campaigning began as a volunteer with the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) in the late 1980’s.  He soon branched out into other transport and environment groups, including anti-road campaigns in the mid-1990s.

With the subsequent shift in national transport policy, he took a masters in Transport at London University and began working for Oxfordshire County Council on walking, cycling and local transport policies.

After a spell with consultants Steer Davies Gleave, he joined Cycling UK as Campaigns & Policy Manager (now Policy Director) in 2002.

He was awarded an MBE for services to cycling in 2015.

Jesse Norman 

Parliamenty Under Secretary of State
Department for Transport

Jesse Norman MP was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Transport on 14 June 2017.

Jesse was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 18 July 2016 until 14 June 2017. He was elected as the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire in May 2010.

Richard Mace

Head of Engagement & Commercial
Cycling & Walking Delivery Unit, DfT
 

As Head of Engagement and Commercial, Cycling & Walking Team,
Department for Transport, Richard is the DfT policy lead on Bikeability, which provides high quality cycle training to 350,000 schoolchildren nationwide each year. He was formerly a Local Engager in the DfT Local Transport Directorate, managing stakeholder relations with the LGA and local transport authorities, and was also 
Programme Manager for the Local Sustainable Transport Fund which awarded £600m to 96 sustainable transport projects nationwide.

Charles Carey 

Founder
Biella Research

Charles Carey formed Biella Research as a collaborative development company committed to agile, applied research and development based on over 30 years experience in R&D covering the automotive, transport, and energy sector.

Charles’ experience includes working at Centro Ricerche Fiat in Italy, Director of a multimillion pound programme at Warwick Manufacturing Group, Warwick University between Jaguar Land Rover and the West Midland supply base, and Head of R&D at the energy company SSE.

Biella Research has spent the last two years developing innovative bike share technology culminating in the successful trialling of the high density Stack Rack docking station.

Haroon Khan

UK Manager
oBike

Haroon Khan is the UK Lead for oBike, he joined the start-up in September to oversee the launch of the dock-less bike sharing model in the UK. Haroon is an experienced business development and operations lead with great experience in the tech start-up field. Prior to joining oBike, Haroon worked as a Director of Business Development and Operations for Raptor Supplies, and Head of Sales Operations for Tizaro. Haroon also worked at Rocket Internet as Head of Purchasing Operations. Haroon holds an MBA from the London Business School and Bachelor in Business Administrations from Portsmouth University. Haroon is a keen cyclist and can often be found strolling around the museums and art galleries in London.

Steve Pyer

UK Manager
Mobike

Steve is the General Manager of Mobike in the UK, and since joining as the UK’s first employee in April 2017 has overseen the launch of Mobike in Manchester, London Ealing, Newcastle and most recently Oxford.

Steve has had a varied career, but developed his passion for bikeshare after joining the London Cycle Hire Scheme just before it launched in June 2010. Steve spent seven years in a variety of roles at the organisation, shaping, improving and innovating the scheme, while it expanded from 6,000 to 12,000 bikes and passed the 50 million journey milestone.

James Gleave 

UK Board Member & Founder 
Travelspirit, & Founder, Transport Futures

James is a transport expert and experienced futures practicioner. His goal is simple: exploring and understanding the future now leads to better transport decisions later. His interests include strategic transport, planning, emerging technologies, innovation, and social justice.

David Smith 

Project Manager
ESP Group

David is a Project Manager at Viaqqio, ESP Group’s Future Mobility Design division. Developing concepts around Mobility as a Service, and drawing on ESP Group’s wide technical expertise to deliver them, has become a core focus for David’s work. David’s main role at Viaqqio is lead project manager for the Innovate UK funded project NaviGoGo which is integrating walking and cycling with other transport modes in Dundee and north east Fife. NaviGoGo is Scotland’s first Mobility as a Service (MaaS) pilot and has been co-designed by young people, for young people (aged 16-25).  

Stephanie Pathak

Principal Strategy Planner, Cycling
Transport for London 

Stephanie Pathak is a Principal Strategy Planner in the Cycling team in Transport for London. She has been in the role for over two years defining and supporting the delivery of projects and programmes to increase cycling in London, including working on the policy for dockless bikes in London.

Her previous roles include preparing business cases for the transport consultancy Atkins and transport planning at Southwark Council. She has an MSc in Transport from Imperial College / University College London and a BSc in Mathematics from University College London.

Carlton Reid 

Executive Editor
BikeBiz.com

Carlton Reid is the editor-at-large of BikeBiz trade magazine and author of Bike Boom and Roads Were Not Built for Cars (both by Island Press, Washington DC).

Hana Sutch

Co-Founder and CEO
Go Jauntly

Hana Sutch is Co-Founder and CEO at Go Jauntly, a platform to help people discover walks, create their own and share outdoor adventures with friends. She has more than 13 years' experience in the interaction design sector, working at award-winning interaction design studio prior to becoming a partner at Furthermore, a digital product and service design consultancy. Previously, Hana led key projects for the likes of Google, Xbox and Nike, some of the world’s most innovative and disruptive brands. She is a strong believer in the power of tech for good. Alongside Go Jauntly, Hana has recently led a project with the University of Derby looking into the positive effects green space has on mental wellbeing.

Anna Watt

Consultant
Phil Jones Associates

Anna joined Phil Jones Associates after a previous blue-chip IT career which focused on strategy development, project management and business analysis. Anna now combines those skills with knowledge of transport planning, working with a variety of public and private sector clients. For DfT, Anna assisted in the development of the LCWIP guidance, as well as the tools and design directory. She then continued this work facilitating Highways England Cycling Delivery Strategy, using her organisational skills to work closely with staff and the wider consultancy consortium to bring together inputs relating to cycling, walking and accessibility. She has worked on several local authority projects dealing with stakeholders on street designs, area transport strategies, land use planning policy and private sector developments. Anna provides transport assessments, travel plans and manages PJA's Travel Plan Co-ordinator service for a number of private sector clients.

Alistair Kirkbride

Executive Director
bikeplus

Alistair Kirkbride joined the Carplus Team as Executive Director in October 2014. He has worked in various capacities in shared transport over the last 15 years. This has included previously working for Carplus on the Rural Car Club Demonstration programme, then as policy and research officer. He set up his local car club as well as the Lake District’s expanding visitor pay-as-you-drive network.

Most recently, he worked to develop transport strategy and delivery projects for the Lake District. Apart from the PAYD network, this has included a 2+ ridesharing scheme and electric bike hire network. This illustrates well his approach of striving to make the sustainable transport offer more attractive than private travel.

As an associate of Eco-Logica, he was part of the DfT Smarter Choices team. In this role, he also worked on a variety of demand management projects from workplace travel plans to exploring alternative logistics models for local sourcing of food.

Pieter-Bas de Visser

Team leader BIM: Design and Simulation
Witteveen+Bos

Pieter-Bas is an experienced and enthusiastic team leader at Witteveen+Bos where he focuses on the user-experience within the sector infrastructure and mobility. He has a background in Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University of Delft where he completed a Masters degree in Integrated Product Design. At Witteveen+Bos, Pieter-Bas is manager of the BIM team: Design and Simulation, which focuses on making 3D/VR-models of engineering projects. These VR-models are used for stakeholder management and participation, which help the clients and other stakeholders to understand the sometimes complex information that an engineer generates. Pieter-Bas finds his motivation in creative thinking and solving complex problems, making processes clear for the client and/or user. His vision is that clear and logical communication between the user and its environment can significantly reduce design errors, frustrations and waste of time.

Patrick Darlington

Managing Director
The Yellow Bike Company 

Patrick Darlington is a chartered accountant by training, but belies that with a track record of building businesses. Following his success with building an innovative business in the wine industry, Patrick has brought his experience to bear on the new opportunities emerging from the worldwide growth of interest in driving growth in sustainable transport. In 2009 he started The Yellow Bike Company (Yellowbike), to develop opportunities in cycling and in particular the integration of cycling into the urban landscape, and in extending the age range of cyclists able to exploit this through electric bikes.

Supported by a grant from Innovate UK, Yellowbike has designed a secure transient bike parking unit for pedal and electric bikes, which it believes will offer greater security than anything currently available in the UK.  In its drive to broaden the base of pedal and electric bike users, Yellowbike believes the ‘lack of reliable secure bike parking’ is one of the key inhibitors to growth of pedal and electric bike use, and seeks to provide an effective solution for this major constraint on the take-up of bike use.

Cyclists have long put up with an absence of core infrastructure and have seen a series of frustrations and disappointments in delivering transport innovation in general, and cycling innovation in particular.  This has convinced Patrick of the need for low-cost/no-cost cycle facilities, to meet the needs of cyclists and to provide the UK with the facilities that will support the delivery of better air quality, less congestion and a fitter, more agile population.

Christopher Bristow

Chief Operating Officer
BetterPoints

Christopher Bristow is chief operating officer of BetterPoints. Chris has held senior executive positions at technology organisations in the USA, Asia-Pacific, South Africa and UK. He co-founded an ethical/sustainable reward programme in the UK, “Smartly Green Rewards”, which was acquired by BetterPoints in 2011.

Maria Heaman

Director
Pindar Creative

Following the success of the Sustainable Travel Transition Year Fund (STTYF) programme, Pindar Creative were asked to create a resource that would enable schools, businesses and local communities to produce their own leaflets featuring a site-specific map. We built an intuitive mapping portal that allows users to choose one of four templates (primary school; secondary school; business; community) providing useful information on active and sustainable travel. The templates can be personalised with site names and supplementary information, and users can choose from three layers of OpenStreetMap data, highlighting cycling and transportation links.

Jessica Read

Team leader, iWalk project
Bristol City Council

Jess Read is a healthy transport engineer and urban designer with 17 years' experience delivering walking and cycling projects in places like Bristol, London, Copenhagen, Oslo and New York. She holds a MSc in public health with a focus on walking and cycling, and led the technical design of the award winning Copenhagen Blue-Green Infrastructure Plan which has resulted in a £500m investment package for walking, cycling and public realm upgrade:  https://www.asla.org/2016awards/171784.html

The iWalk project is an exploratory collaboration between Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol to identify innovative transport practices which could enable the large scale uptake of walking for transport. The project takes an equalities approach by focusing on the needs of children, older adults and disabled people to define the quality standards of these innovations. The iWalk project was funded by an ESRC impact acceleration grant from the University of Bristol and hosted in Bristol City Council Transport Team.

Cariern Clement-Pascall

CEO and Founder
VONCRANK

Cariern from VONCRANK here. I’m a bike mechanic and a cyclist with a passion for how technology can give more people the amazing gift that is cycling. The founding idea of VONCRANK is to create a community which allows bike mechanics and cyclists to connect rapidly. This leaves us free to spend more time getting on with the important job of cycling. 

Irene McAleese

Founder and CSO
See.Sense

A keen cycle commuter and leisure cyclist, Irene is passionate about harnessing technology and data to help more people cycle more often. Irene leads our developing Smart Cities practice and brings years of consulting experience to the role, having led change and workforce transformation initiatives in transport, telecommunications and resource industries sectors around the world.