Chris Bolt, Chairman of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), today announced the new executive team, following on from the appointment of Bill Emery as Chief Executive, who takes up the job on 19 September 2005.
Linda Williams will be joining ORR as Chief Inspector of Railways Designate on 26 September and will become Chief Inspector of Railways in Succession to Dr Allan Sefton on 5 December 2005. Michael Lee will be joining ORR as Director of Industry Monitoring and Analysis on 27 September 2005. Linda and Michael join Rob Andrews who took up his job as Director of Rail Safety Policy on 15 July, and Sarah Straight who takes up the job of Director, Rail Markets, Passengers & Freight, having been in the post temporarily.
Chris Bolt said:
“The ORR faces many challenges in merging safety and economic regulation and taking on the other responsibilities afforded us by the Railways Act 2005 as we prepare for the next Periodic Review of Network Rail’s charges and outputs. It is an exciting time as well as a challenging one, and we are pleased to have attracted the calibre of directors needed to do the work.”
Bill Emery, who has been a member of the selection panel for the four director appointments, said:
“I was pleased to have the opportunity to choose the new directors who will complement the existing ORR directors. I am looking forward to building on the tremendous work and talent at ORR and creating a new team that delivers the Board’s policy in light of our new responsibilities and duties.
The other members of the team are: Michael Beswick, Director of Rail Policy, John Thomas, Director of Regulatory Economics, Lynda Rollason, Head of Corporate Services & Change Management, and Juliet Lazarus, Head of Legal Services.
Notes to editors:
Backgrounds of the new appointees:
Bill Emery: Previous 15 years with Ofwat, the last seven as Director of Costs & Performance and Chief Engineer. Before Ofwat, 15 years with Yorkshire Water.
Michael Lee: Worked for British Rail for 18 years, Office of Passenger Rail Franchising for 3 years, and then 8 years with AEA Technology.
Linda Williams: Has worked at the Health & Safety Executive for over 20 years, most recent job as Head of Operations for HMRI.
Rob Andrews: Two years as Director of safety development at the SRA. Previously with HSE, variously as Deputy Chief Inspector of Railways and head of Rail Safety Policy, and before that working on nuclear safety.
Sarah Straight: A career Civil Servant with extensive experience across Whitehall, having worked on initiatives such as Terminal 5, and rail privatisation, she has worked at ORR since 2002.
Michael Beswick: Previously with British Rail, joined ORR in 1994.
John Thomas: Spent seven years as an economist with Halcrow before joining ORR in 2001.
Lynda Rollason: Previously with the National Health Service, joined ORR in 2000.
Juliet Lazarus: Joined ORR in 2004 from a large City legal firm.
Press enquiries
ORR Press Office – 020 7282 2007/2141
Out of office hours – pager 07659 127 303
