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New Appointments to Transport for Edinburgh Boards Announced

Posted: 22nd May 2015

Edinburgh council

Councillors are set to agree a series of new appointments to the boards of Transport for Edinburgh, Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams, as recommended by the Nominations Committee of Transport for Edinburgh.

The committee has recommended the selection of Jim McFarlane as chair of Lothian Buses and also to sit on the Transport for Edinburgh board. He will be joined by Susan Deacon, Tony Rose, Mark Yexley and Charlene Wallace as non-executive directors on the board of Lothian Buses. Charles Monheim has been put forward as the second new appointment to the Transport for Edinburgh board.

As part of the changes, it has also been proposed that non-executive directors are included on the board of Edinburgh Trams for the first time, allowing the board to benefit from the external scrutiny of independent members.

If this is approved, Charles Monheim will be appointed as chair, with Charlene Wallace and Andy Neal as additional non-executive members.

The new members will join non-executive directors Councillor Lesley Hinds (Chair of Transport for Edinburgh), Councillor
Adam McVey, Councillor Joanna Mowatt and Councillor Nigel Bagshaw. Recruitment will fill a number of positions which have become or are due to fall vacant due to resignations or the expiry of the term of the appointment.

It is also proposed to extend the appointment of Donald MacLeod, one of the existing non-executive directors of Lothian Buses, for a further two years.

Council Leader Andrew Burns, said: “These new appointments will really help us to look to the future of public transport in Edinburgh and to achieve our vision of a first-class, fully integrated service, combining Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams.

“I believe our new members will bring the perfect mix of transport, business and management expertise to the companies, along with a wealth experience, which will be pivotal as we continue to improve the city for public transport-users, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike.

“That said, we have already achieved so much in Transport for Edinburgh’s first year, with excellent customer satisfaction, increasing patronage and a host of new developments on the way. Therefore I would also like to thank outgoing members for their contributions, particularly Tony Depledge, who stepped in as interim chair to guide the company during a very challenging time.”

The appointments will be voted on at the next meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council on Thursday 28th May.

 

Transport for Edinburgh non-executive directors – biographies 

Jim McFarlane
Jim is currently Interim General Manager at Lothian Buses and previous to this was MD of Operations at Scottish Enterprise.  Jim became one of Scotland’s foremost economic development leaders over 35 years with Scottish Enterprise and its predecessor the SDA. He’s had significant involvement in the development and implementation of numerous landmark projects including the Edinburgh BioQuarter and The Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Previous senior positions included periods as Chief Executive at Scottish Enterprise Borders and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian.  During his time at SE Edinburgh and Lothian Jim led the project teams that established the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and Exchange Financial District, Our Dynamic Earth and the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

Mark Yexley
Mark has worked in the bus industry for 36 years developing this career from a graduate trainee at London Buses, Mark worked his way up to Executive Director level at Arriva UK, an organisation with 6000 buses, 19,000 employees and 70 bus depots throughout the UK. A graduate of Bristol University and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Mark was the President of the Chartered Institute of Passenger Transport in 2012. Mark brings with him a wealth of bus sector experience from working on projects that develop environmental initiatives like smart ticketing, fuel saving initiatives and the transport offering for London 2012.

Tony Rose
After studying and gaining an MSc in Transportation at Imperial College London, Tony started his career as a Transport Analyst and worked on major infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. In 2004 he relocated to Edinburgh while working for PricewaterhouseCoopers and focused on providing financial advice to public and private sector clients on complex transport infrastructure projects such as Thameslink, Borders Railway, Edinburgh Tram and heavy rail franchise bids. Tony is now the Infrastructure Director at Scottish Futures Trust, where he is responsible for supporting both public and private sector stakeholders in delivering value for money projects.

Charlene Wallace
Charlene has significant executive director experience in both the rail and aviation sectors. Originally a member of Cabin Crew, Charlene was then promoted into a senior management role at Virgin Trains, before moving to Northern Rail and then East Coast Mainline. She then secured a role as the Customer Service Director at Monarch Airlines, based at Luton Airport, and more recently joined Business Stream as Customer Operations Director in Edinburgh. Charlene is qualified and competent in HR, marketing, project management and has a Master’s in Business Management.

Susan Deacon
After a career in education as Director of Programmes for the MBA programme at Heriot-Watt University, Susan then established herself in politics and served as a Minister for Health and Community Care in the Scottish Government and also as MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh in the first Scottish Parliament in 1999. Since 2007 she has had a varied non-executive career on various boards from those representing the arts, corporate business, culture, environment, education and business. Susan also runs a consultancy business and provides advice on leadership and strategic change and acts as a coach and mentor to individuals and leadership teams.

Charles Monheim
After gaining a MBA at Stanford Business School, Charles took a role working as a Policy Analyst at the Office of the Mayor in New York City. From here he secured a number of roles at New York’s MTA (Mass Transit Authority) during a time of major change. In 2001 Charles moved to London and was responsible for the implementation of the Oyster Card. In 2007 he received the Transport Times award for outstanding contribution to transport in London. In September 2009 Charles returned to MTA in New York as their Chief Operating Officer. Charles relocated to Edinburgh in 2012. He has recently been consulting with global transport providers like MTR (Hone Kong), Alta Bike Share (New York) and Korea Smart Card Company (Malaysia).

Andy Neal
Andrew is a marketing professional with many years in senior roles within the drinks industry before moving into media sales growing the Scottish division of Clear Channel. He then moved back into the drinks industry as Marketing Director of Scottish and Newcastle before taking a role as Head of Community Fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Support. Andy has recently left his role as Chief Executive of Essential Edinburgh, which he held from 2011. Working with retail and business partners Andy’s role as Chief Executive has been to contribute to a city centre that is desirable to those using it as residents or visitors and contributes positively to the economy of the community.

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