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Dr Ray Carter is an international training and development consultant with over 30 years’ experience. He graduated with a master’s degree in management studies. Dr Carter is a NALP licensed contract law paralegal and member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and is a World Contract and Commercial Association Fellow and Advanced Contract and Commercial Management Practitioner.

He began his management career in the public sector and thereafter for a large food manufacturer in the UK. Later, he joined the Business School in North London before setting up his own consultancy. Dr Carter has had numerous articles and papers published in journals such as Supply Management, World CC Strategic Journal and the In Procurement Magazine. His renowned 10c’s’ supplier evaluation model has been adopted by organisations worldwide. It is also part of the CIPS and WorldCC course curriculum.

Greg Kotecha is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and the Head of Engineering at South Western Railway (SWR), a position he has held for six and a half years.

He has led the technical introduction of the Cl484 fleet on the Isle of Wight and the Cl701 fleet on SWR’s suburban network, as well as life extension work on the Cl455 fleet to enable continued service operation into 2026.

Greg and his team have also re-written the entire suite of engineering policies and procedures, delivering improved supply chain oversight, stronger stakeholder engagement, and enhanced reliability and performance. He’s an active participant in cross-industry forums focused on best practice, including the RSSB Technical & Standards Forum, which he has chaired for the past year, and the Network Rail Chief Engineer's Vehicle Introduction Forum.

Claire Painter is Head of Procurement and Supply Chain at SWR. She is a long serving railway professional with a varied career spanning over 32 years, 13 of those in Procurement. The majority of her railway career has been spent with SWR, with a 4 1/2 year stint at First Rail as Senior Indirect Procurement Category Manager, with direct responsibility for group tenders such as Catering, Rail Replacement and Temporary Labour.

She returned to SWR in Oct 2023 as Head of Procurement, and during SWR’s transfer to public ownership in May 2025 (SWR being the first TOC to transfer), she was responsible for overseeing the triage of c700 contracts for inclusion in the Rail Transfer Scheme. She is now responsible for a diverse team covering strategic Procurement (both Direct and Indirect), Governance and Compliance activity, Supplier Relationship Management and Commercial Contract Management.

Frazer Stirling is a highly experienced senior Rail professional and Chartered Engineer, with broad senior experience across rail engineering, operations, project management, procurement, and financing.

He joined Enigma Seven after a long career rail engineering ranging from asset management to operations, maintenance and business development, including several years leading rolling stock and digital rail strategies for numerous rail franchise bids in the UK and Australasia, and establishing Go-Ahead Group in the Australian market. As a Director of Enigma Seven, he has helped clients solve problems and deliver successful outcomes in rail and bus sectors across a range of projects and assignments.

Katie Hicks is Head of UK Supply Chain & Logistics at Stadler. With over 10 years’ experience spanning procurement, contract management, customer operations and business development, Katie has built a reputation for delivering collaborative, commercially effective outcomes across complex rail projects.

Prior to joining Stadler, she held senior procurement and relationship management roles at Siemens, Porterbrook, Gemini Rail Group and Unipart Rail. Katie has a practical understanding of how clear specifications, stakeholder alignment and effective scopes of work underpin successful project delivery and long-term operational performance.

Nicola Phillips is Supply Chain Management Director at Siemens. Supply chains don’t just support mobility they define it.

Nicola sees them as a powerful force at the heart of mobility not a back-end function. She is passionate about bringing together people to turn complexity into opportunity. Combining collaborative leadership with a strong belief in the role that technology also has to play, Nicola works closely with teams and partners to focus on building something that’s agile, resilient and built to last.

Neil Bowen is Group Procurement Director at DFTO (DfT Operator Limited), leading one of the UK’s largest and most complex public sector commercial portfolios. He is accountable for shaping and delivering group-wide procurement strategy across multiple TOCs, setting the standard for commercial governance, sourcing, and supplier performance at scale.

His remit spans multi-billion-pound spend and a national supply chain, with a clear focus on driving value, resilience, and operational performance. Neil plays a pivotal role in the transformation of the UK rail industry, supporting the transition to public ownership and helping design the future commercial architecture for Great British Railways. He is leading the shift from fragmented, transactional procurement to an integrated, system-led model that delivers consistency, efficiency, and long-term value.

Emma Davis is passionate about making rail easier and more human. As EMR’s Head of Customer Experience, she leads a portfolio covering customer strategy, insight, accessibility and inclusion, Passenger Assistance, Service Quality, customer contact and improvement programmes.

Emma lives in the space between what customers need, what the railway can deliver and how to make change actually happen; connecting stations, on train, customer service, accessibility, safety and security, Network Rail, DfT, RDG, ORR, Transport Focus and supplier partners to turn insight into action and better journeys. With a background in arts, audience development and communications, Emma brings a strong storytelling, service and customer behaviour lens. She has helped build data-led customer listening approaches, using over 700,000 pieces of feedback to understand what customers experience.

Andy Sykes is an experienced industrial designer with a career spanning nearly two decades of transport and rail design and innovation. Specialising in the intersection of creative intuition and specialist technical requirements, Andy delivers innovative, user-centred solutions for clients across the transport industry in the UK and internationally.

Based in Derby, he has delivered industrial design projects including EMR’s new Aurora fleet and legacy fleet refurbishments, new trains for SWR and Flytoget Oslo Airport Express. Andy is currently working with Grand Central on their new fleet, and supporting GBR livery projects. His career includes senior roles at dgdesign, Seymourpowell, and AtkinsRéalis.

Kerry Childs is Head of Industry Projects – Implementation at CrossCountry, with more than 20 years’ experience across the UK rail industry.

Her background spans rolling stock projects, fleet refurbishment, bid management, asset management, and contract delivery across operators, manufacturers, ROSCOs, and consultancy. Kerry has worked on a range of customer-focused fleet and refurbishment programmes, alongside wider future fleet considerations, bringing practical insight into balancing customer expectations, operational delivery, quality, and whole-life value within rail procurement and implementation