Presenters

Professor Washington Yotto Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, is the Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Chair in Positioning and Navigation Systems. He is also the Interim Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST) and Member of the Steering Committee of Imperial Space Lab. He is a renowned expert in infrastructure resilience, trans-modal mobility, positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems and geomatics. Ochieng is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Royal academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), Institution of Highways and Transportation and the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. He holds multiple high-profile positions, including President of RIN, Board Member of the Science Museum Group, Chair of the Science Museum Advisory Board, and Member of advisory councils at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the Department of Transport (DfT) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Professor Seema Alim, PhD, PE, is an alumnus of the Imperial College, London with 35+ years of major, multi-sector infrastructure programmes in the US, Canada, Asia and Africa. She is a Programme Director and Vice President at Jacobs and formerly was a Vice President (Global Programmes) with CH2MHILL, Vice President (Major Programmes) at Louis Berger (WSP), Infrastructure Advisor at USAID and a Fellow of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and has served on the Expert Advisory Board of i-BUILD, UK.  Early in her career Dr Alim was appointed by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan to chair the Prime Minister’s Special Programme Office to implement major infrastructure programmes; she also served as the Chairman of the National Mass Transit Authority of Pakistan.

Richard Ploszek, joined Infrastructure UK (IUK), one of the precursors to Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) in 2013 and the IPA Delivery Team in 2016 providing commercial and engineering support on housing and regeneration projects. He has been involved in the setting up of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and has provided significant support in the development of key infrastructure investment proposals to radically accelerate delivery of this key Garden Town. He is an engineer with an extensive policy experience, bringing an understanding of real-world project issues into the development of policy led solutions, for example, the development, launch and delivery of the £5.5Bn Housing Infrastructure Fund. Previously, he led the development of thinking on planning and management of infrastructure interdependencies, leading academic research that led to improvements in the way that the risks and opportunities of interdependencies can be captured in the development of major infrastructure projects. This work has led to new Green Book guidance on Valuing Infrastructure Spend and contributed to wider work on understanding infrastructure resilience at a system of systems level. He remains involved in cutting edge academic research on infrastructure and infrastructure sensing sitting on various research steering groups such as the Centre for Smart Infrastructure in Cambridge (CSIC), iBUILD, ITRC and is involved in the development of UKCRIC. Prior to joining the Civil Service, Richard was the Senior Policy Advisor at the Royal Academy of Engineering and has considerable experience in utility financing and regulation.

Dervilla Mitchell DBE, FREng, is a Civil Engineer with a background in design in the built environment and a Director of Arup Group. She served as Deputy Chair of Arup Group and prior to this she was Executive Chair of the UK, India, Middle East and Africa Region of Arup responsible for over 6000 people.   Her particular expertise is leading major programmes, and these have included Terminal 5, Heathrow, Terminal 2, Dublin and Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal. 

She chairs the National Engineering Policy Centre’s decarbonising UK working group bringing together representatives of engineering organisations to oversee a range of publications and engagement with Government, supporting the ambitions of reaching net zero. She is also a member of the Rapid Electricity System Decarbonisation group which is being led by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Dervilla is a member of the Civil Engineering Department Industry Advisory Board at Imperial and enjoys engaging with the students and exciting them about a career in engineering. 

Mark Wild, OBE, FREng, has more than 35 years of experience leading complex and critical infrastructure. An Engineer with Hons Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Masters in Business Administration. He started his career in the electricity sector, but the majority of his experience has been in transportation. He has had a long career in operating and building major transportation infrastructure. Mark is the former Managing Director of Westinghouse Signals and was the CEO of Public Transport Victoria. Mark is the former Managing Director of London Underground and the former CEO of Crossrail, Europe’s largest infrastructure programme. Mark took up the role of CEO for SGN, one of the UK’s largest gas distribution networks in August last year and has recently been named to lead HS2.

John Pelton, MBE,  is currently the Enterprise Programme Director at Costain. Previously with Jacobs as Programme Partner Director for East West Rail.  Prior to that seconded to the Lower Thames Crossing programme as the Sponsorship Director following 2 years as a Director on the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme and in Parliament. He led Highways England’s Major Projects transformation programme, Crossrail’s Programme Partner JV (including delivering Crossrail’s innovation programme) and HS2’s Efficiency Challenge Programme.  First career leading complex programmes with the British military on operations around the world and in procurement. Honorary Professor of Project and Construction Management at UCL.

Roger Bailey is the Chief Technical Officer of Thames Tideway Tunnel and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He has held board level positions in both contracting and consulting firms prior to joining Thames Tideway. The first 20 years of his career was in the geotechnical contracting sector in the UK and overseas followed by over 10 years in transportation for clients like Crossrail, Network Rail, TfL, Highways Agency and the Department for Transport.  Roger’s Completion & Handover Team at Tideway is responsible for technical oversight, property and commercial agreements, compliance with planning permission, system commissioning and the operational integration of the completed Thames Tideway Tunnel asset into the existing London sewer network.

Russell Pilgrim, FICE, FIoD, MBA is an Alumnus of Imperial College London, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Institute of Directors. He currently leads the East West Rail Programme Partner on behalf of Jacobs and is also currently seconded to East West Rail as Executive Director Programme Advisory. Russell has extensive experience in being a key contributor to strategic and delivery of complex high profile, multi-billion-dollar National Significant Infrastructure Projects, including Crossrail the Elizabeth line. Russell and his team have been recognised for contributions to Crossrail in successful programme delivery through winning numerous prestigious awards. Through his work in built environment and infrastructure, he is an advocate of social and economic benefits, creating an inclusive society which increase jobs, education, and housing. For nearly a decade he has been a voluntary business mentor of The King’s Trust.

Raffaele Della Croce Di Dojola, PhD,  co-Director of the Singapore Green Finance Centre, which is jointly managed by Imperial College Business School and Singapore Management University and an Advanced Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment (CCFI) at Imperial Business School. As Senior Economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) he has been responsible for producing research and analysis on sustainable investment, asset allocation trends, low carbon infrastructure financing, resilience and infratech. At the OECD, he launched the "Institutional investors and long term investment" project gathering the largest pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds across the world. He has represented the organization at the G20, the European Parliament, the Financial Stability Board and UN meetings. In 2022 under Mario Draghi's government in Italy, Raffaele has been a special economic advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport and member of the Cabinet in Italy. He was involved in climate change and adaptation for infrastructure, sustainable financing, maintenance and digitalization. Before joining the OECD, he worked in the financial industry in London for eight years, mainly with Ernst & Young and Moody’s Investors Services. He has presented research to a wide audience including CEO/CIO of major institutional investors, finance ministers/senior policy officials from OECD and Partner countries, academics and technical experts, NGOs, multilaterals and international institutions. He received his Doctorate in Economic Geography at Oxford University, a Master from Columbia University in New York and a degree in Economics from La Sapienza University in Rome.

 Dr Mireille Elhajj, FRIN, MCIHT  is Founder and CEO of Astra-Terra. Her expertise is in forming strategic partnerships, managing projects, and designing optimal solutions across space, transport, smart cities, infrastructure, and mobility systems and services. She is Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Imperial College London, where she previously held various positions, including Visiting Senior Lecturer, Director of the Integrated Space Science Engineering Program, and Advanced Research Fellow. She was also a Security Science Fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST). She lectures in Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), and security of critical national infrastructure at Imperial. She has published scientific papers in PNT signal interference mitigation, and novel integrity (safety) monitoring methods. She has a PhD and MSc in Transport Engineering from Imperial, MSc in Financial Analysis and Fund Management from Exeter University, and a BSc in Business Marketing from the Lebanese American University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), Member of the CEE Industrial Advisory Board, and the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services.

Damian Carey, CE, is a Vice President and Programme Director at Jacobs.  He is a seasoned transit industry leader with 36 years of experience leading public transportation project delivery, encompassing capital program strategic development, procurement and implementation, project management, engineering design, and construction management. He has extensive P3 development and implementation experience, including developing P3-suitable D/B, O/M, and commercial documents, establishing risk allocations, collaborative protocols, and other agreements, assembling and leading PM/CM teams to oversee contract implementation, and coordinating with appropriate authorities on design requirements and reviews, operational requirements and service impact planning, and facility acceptance procedures.

Professor Bilal Ayyub, PhD., PE, is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director of Center for Technology and Systems Management at the University of Maryland; Visiting Professor, Imperial College London; Senior Economist at the Applied Economics Office of National Institute of Standards and Technology (2023-2024); and Co-Director, International Joint Research Center for Resilient Infrastructure, Tongji University, China. He is an affiliate of the Center for Risk and Reliability; Disaster Resilience Center; Maryland Robotics Center; Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computation Program; and Institute of Systems Engineering. In the past he has been:

• Visiting fellow at the National Security Analysis Department of the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University (2015-16).
• Chair professor at Tongji University (2016-18).
• ASEE Fellow ONR-funded for sabbatical leaves at U. S. Navy (USN) from 1993, 2000 and 2007.

Professor Ayyub is a distinguished member of ASCE, an honorary member of ASME, Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), the Society for Risk Analysis (2017-18 ), senior member of IEEE.  Dr. Ayyub serves on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Science Advisory Board, and the National Academies Board of Environmental Change and Society, and the Roundtable on Macroeconomics and Climate related Risks and Opportunities.

ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS

Fergus Harradence, is the Deputy Director in the Department for Business & Trade with responsibility for the built environment sectors, including construction, water, airports and logistics. Since joining the Civil Service In 2000, he has worked in a number of Departments in a range of economic policy roles, including trade policy, export promotion, innovation and corporate tax. His current responsibilities include DBT's policies to help improve the productivity and environmental performance of the built environment sectors, including through encouraging the adoption of new technologies and construction techniques, supporting exports and inward investment, decarbonising buildings and construction operations, systems digitisation and improving the efficiency of the construction supply chain. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Department for Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College, and the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction at Cambridge University.

Professor Jeni Giambona, is Professorial Fellow and Director of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise at Southampton Business School, leading on developing impactful strategic collaborations and co-creation with external organisations and the public. Her expertise is in the development of systems thinking-based co-creation, knowledge exchange, research and engagement strategies. Prior to Southampton, Jeni worked at Imperial as Programmes Director of the Systems Engineering Leadership Development, DfMA and IDD Leadership Development courses. Jeni’s expertise in systems thinking  aims  to convene stakeholders to co-create a shared understanding a systems approach to infrastructure including how it can help with decarbonising infrastructure. Jeni contributed to the development of the NSF-funded Infrastructure Architecture Framework for infrastructure management in the digital age. At Southampton, she has been instrumental in founding the Centre for Resilient Socio-Technical Systems, of which she is co-Director. Jeni has been part of the UK CO2nstructZero working group, is Southampton’s main rep to the Major Projects Association and is a member of the DEFRA Systems Community of Practice. She has collaborated widely with industry on systems approaches to infrastructure design, delivery and management.

Lord Toby Harris, is chair of the National Preparedness Commission, influential in the development of the UK Government Resilience Framework and has established a reputation as the leading body promoting better preparedness for a major crisis or incident. He is also Visiting Professor of Resilience at Cranfield University and is President of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management.  In addition, he chairs two regulatory bodies (the General Dental Council, which regulates dental professionals; and the Fundraising Regulator, which oversees charitable fundraising). Lord Toby Harris was made a Life Peer in June 1998 and has been Chair of the Labour Peers since 2012. He stood down from Parliament’s Joint Committee on National Security at the beginning of 2021, having been a member for most of the previous decade.  He has also been at various times a member of the House of Lords’ Select Committees on Life Beyond COVID, on Democracy and Digital Technologies, on Personal Internet Security, and on the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy (which he chaired). 

In 2016 and in 2021, he conducted Independent Reviews for the Mayor of London on London’s Preparedness to Respond to a Terrorist Attack. His Independent Review on the Deaths of Young People in Prison Custody (“The Harris Review: Changing Prisons, Saving Lives”) was published by the Ministry of Justice in July 2015. He is a former Council Leader (1987-1999), led the Labour Group on the London Assembly for four years (2000-2004), and was the founding Chair of the Association of London Government (now London Councils)(1995-2000). He was the first Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (2000-2004) and then on behalf of successive Home Secretaries oversaw police work on counter-terrorism and security (2004-2012).  In addition, he was the Chair of National Trading Standards (responsible for delivering national and cross-boundary consumer protection enforcement activity) from 2013 to 2021.  He also chaired the Independent Advisory Group on Ethics for the National Crime Agency (2017-2024) and the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (2009-2015).  He was a member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union (1994-2002).  Professionally, he was Director of the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales (then the statutory body representing the interests of patients in the NHS) (1987-1998); and Deputy Director of the Electricity Consumers’ Council (1979-1986).  Previously, he was in the Economics Division of the Bank of England (1975-1979).

 Adam Locke, MA MSc MA CEng FICE, is a Project Director at Laing O’Rourke leading on the development and delivery of energy transition infrastructure, including wind and nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs), to address both energy security and Net Zero challenges. Adam has extensive experience in leading technology and innovation collaborations with government, industry, and academia. He is focussed on improving delivery certainty, productivity, and sustainability using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) including design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA), digital and advanced manufacturing technologies. Adam is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, with degrees in Engineering Science from the University of Cambridge; Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London and an MBA from INSEAD.

Mark Enzer, OBE, FREng, is a keen champion of outcomes-focused systems-thinking, collaborative delivery models, digitalisation, connected digital twins and the circular economy in the built environment. He is the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in the digitalisation of the built environment at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. As Strategic Advisor at Mott MacDonald, Mark provides advice to key clients on digitalisation and broader industry transformation.  Previously, Mark was the CTO of Mott MacDonald and the Director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain, where he was the Head of the National Digital Twin programme. He was the lead author of the Infrastructure Carbon Review, published by HM Treasury.

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