How to engineer great governance for better outcomes

Alistair Godbold

Alistair Godbold is an experienced programme manager with over 30 years’ experience, managing complex programmes and advising companies on the set up, operation and governance of projects and programmes. He has advised on and set up multi-billion-pound programmes and projects and led the transformation of organisations. He has delivered projects ranging from buildings through IT enabled business transformations to high integrity systems. He has also worked on and advised government, rail, nuclear, aviation and mining projects in the UK and abroad. Alistair has also written blogs, books and lectured on project management around the world.

He has also served as a director of the Association for Project Management (APM) and the Major Projects Association. He is a Fellow of the ICCPM, a Fellow of the APM, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Project Professional, in 2011 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the APM for his services to project management. He has a degree in Computing and an MBA in Project Management. Alistair is also a member of the council for the International Project Management Association and Chairs their Advisory Committee.

Annabelle Ransome-Williams

Successful project delivery spans over two decades, themed by adaptive leadership bridging between research and practice, and innovation to deliver ambitious large scale complex projects, programmes and portfolios. Transformation of complex organisations including product and service delivery is the mainstay of my career, acting as catalysing change agent for pace, momentum, and performance improvement. With sustainable results, improved defence outputs across a number of domains for the Armed Services has achieved global impact. This public sector experience is complemented by private and third sector work for some of the top organisations in the UK.

David Archer

David is a Director of Socia, a consultancy practice that for the last 20 years has been working with leaders to build relationships across internal or external organisational boundaries that deliver lasting business results.

His particular expertise is in managing the challenges of large-scale collaboration and using this to help leaders be more effective in complex business environments. He also evaluates public and private sector Boards, facilitates senior teams, builds trust in multi-organisational groups, and designs strategic change initiatives.

His most recent client experiences projects include reviews of the Boards of Ordnance Survey, UK Government Investments, National Highways, and the Trustee Board of the V&A as well as collaborative leadership assignments for LNER, Network Rail, MTR Elizabeth Line and Natural England, and long term organisational projects at London Underground, the Rail Safety and Standards Board and the ORR.

With Alex Cameron he is the author of the book Collaborative Leadership and has delivered programmes based on this at Ashridge, Bristol University and Warwick Business School, as well as delivering bespoke leadership development programmes for specific clients.

David Porter

David Porter is current ICE Senior Vice President. Porter is a trustee of the ICE and, until recently, held the learning society portfolio.

Porter is currently the director of engineering with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), which is the roads authority for Northern Ireland. He’s the chief highways engineer.

He is also the head of the civil engineering profession with the Northern Ireland civil service.

He’s responsible for the development of the department’s professional and technical staff, engineering policies and standards, and health and safety. He also leads on procurement and the internal consultancy.

Previously, Porter was the chief executive of the Rivers Agency, the flood defence and drainage authority for Northern Ireland. He also held the posts of director of development and director of operations with the agency.

Porter is a past chair of the Northern Ireland region of the ICE. He’s been on the ICE Council three times: two terms as the Northern Ireland representative, and one as a general member.

He has also served on numerous committees and panels:

• He was a member of the Presidential Commission on the ICE Governance (the Orr Review).
• He chaired the member-led review of NOMCO, the Audit Committee, and the Qualifications Panel.
• He has been on the Committee of Management of the ICE Benevolent Fund.

Amongst various distinctions, Porter is a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, was awarded the Poskitt Medal by the ICE Northern Ireland Region in 2017, and the Engineers Ireland President’s Award in 2018.

Miles Ashley FICE, FRICS, FRSA

Miles is a Civil engineer with over 33 years’ experience in construction and property. Miles is an accredited Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) High Risk Reviewer.

He was the TfL Director responsible for Construction at London Underground, a £5bn programme, which encompassed redevelopments such as Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Bond Street; and additionally, the line extensions to the Northern and Metropolitan.

During his career he has worked in Contracting for Balfour Beatty and Lovell; Construction Project Management as a Director of Clarson Goff and in property development as the Managing Director of Heritage Property Group.

He recently led “PROJECT 13” the Infrastructure Client Group work on New Delivery Models in Infrastructure.

Miles is also Immediate Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Paviors, a City Livery Company, and a Charity Trustee.

Neil Holm

Neil Holm has been Network Rail Programme Director for the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme for the last two years. The multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade will bring faster, cleaner and more reliable trains along one of the country’s key rail arteries, transforming journeys for millions of passengers across the North.

Before joining the Transpennine Route Upgrade, Neil was programme director for HMS Prince of Wales Aircraft Carrier, where he was responsible for leading the carrier through assembly, commissioning and sea trials to final delivery with the Royal Navy. Prior to this he was head of programme for HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier. Neil spent his early career in Military Aerospace after graduating from the University of Cambridge with a post-graduate degree in Design, Manufacture and Management after obtaining an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Strathclyde University.

Nick Smallwood

Nick Smallwood is the chief executive officer of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and head of Government’s Project Delivery Function.

Nick is the former vice president for Projects Engineering and Chief Projects Engineer at Shell.

Nick has 40 years’ experience of managing complex project portfolios and having developed Shell’s Global Project Academy. At Shell, Nick was accountable for managing how projects were delivered and a variety of significant improvement programmes.

Nick was also a trustee of the board of the Association for Project Management (APM) until November 2019, where he contributed to the overall development of the UK’s project management profession.

Richard Lennard

Dr Simon Addyman

Simon Addyman is an Associate Professor of Project Management at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London, UK, where he is Director of the MSc Project and Enterprise Management and Director of the Centre for Construction Project Organising. His primary research interests include understanding the nature of temporary organising and routine dynamics in construction, particularly how participants engage in a dialogue together to create value from projects. In addition to his teaching and research, Simon advises government, professional institutes and private organisations in developing their capabilities in the organisation and management of projects and programmes.

Sue Kershaw

Sue Kershaw is Costain’s managing director of transportation and one of the UK’s leading civil engineers and programme directors.

She is also president of the Association for Project Management (APM) and campaigns tirelessly for the inclusion of more women at a senior level within construction.

At Costain, Sue leads some 2000 people across five client accounts such as National Highways, HS2, Network Rail, Integrated Transport and Central Government, driving the successful delivery of complex transport and construction programmes across the UK. Her track record includes ultra high-profile projects such as Crossrail, HS2 and the A14.

Sue is a Royal Academy of Engineering visiting professor at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London.

Before Costain, Sue was managing director at KPMG’s Infrastructure Advisory Group, leading the project representative role for the Secretary of State for Transport and HS2 Ltd. Before that, she was UK infrastructure head of programme management for KPMG Major Projects Advisory; director of rail, Europe at CH2M; and deputy director of transport for the Olympic Delivery Authority.

The daughter of a civil engineer who worked on major projects around the world, including the Tarbela Dam, Sue grew up in Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand and New Zealand.