Dear Graham
 
I wanted to let you know of some changes to our Public Affairs team.
 
Many of you will know Jane Jones well, who has been our Head of Public Affairs since 2015. Jane has been working part-time since the summer of 2023 and will now be changing roles to become my Chief of Staff, focusing on keeping the business running smoothly with me and our Executive team. She will still be out and about on the network and attending various events so you haven’t seen the last of her yet!
 
I’m delighted to let you know that Tom Lydon will now be our new Head of Public Affairs. Tom’s been with GWR since 2019 as Jane’s deputy and been leading the team part-time since Jane reduced her working hours. Both Tom and Jane will report directly to me as Managing Director.
 
Tom will be in touch soon with details on his replacement. In the meantime, if you were previously in contact with Jane, please do not hesitate to contact either me on this address or Tom on [redacted] or [redacted] going forward and we will be very happy to help.
 
Best wishes
 
Mark
 
Mark Hopwood CBE | Managing Director | Great Western Railway
Milford House | 1 Milford Street | Swindon | SN1 1HL

Meet our team

Mark Hopwood – Managing Director
Mark is the Managing Director of Great Western Railway.
Starting his career at Reading station in 1989 he worked for British Rail, Railtrack and several train operators including Thames Trains, First North Western, c2c, Silverlink, Gatwick Express and WAGN.
Mark was appointed Managing Director at First Great Western in 2008. He steered the business through substantial changes like introduction of the new electric trains and the delivery of the December 2019 timetable which added frequency and reduced journey times on most GW routes.
He was asked to step across to sister business, South Western Railway, in 2020 to address serious performance, partnership and contractual issues and returned as Managing Director of GWR in January 2021 having addressed the key SWR issues.
Mark has worked in UK Rail for thirty two years and has experience at the front line and in more strategic roles. He has chaired the UK rail industry National Task Force and sits on the Rail Delivery Group Planning and Production Board.
He was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a Fellow of Institute of Railway Operators. Mark holds other honorary posts within the heritage and mainline railway community.

Richard Rowland – Customer Service and Operations Director
Richard joined us in 2015, having held various roles in FirstGroup since 2005.
Richard leads the Driver, Guards and On-board Customer Host teams and also plays an important role in our partnership with Network Rail; making sure our customers' journeys are disrupted as little as possible when works on the line take place.

Ruth Busby – HR Director
Ruth has worked in a number of senior HR roles in the civil service and higher education.
She has extensive knowledge of diversity and inclusion, leading organisational change, employee relations, policy and employee reward.
Ruth’s key priorities at GWR will be to continue to put people at the heart of our cultural change within our transformation, maintaining relationships with the Trade Unions and shaping our strategy as we look ahead to the future.

Joe Graham – Business Assurance Director
Joe joined us in 2011 from the BBC, bringing with him over 20 years of business management and compliance experience.
He is responsible for our compliance, security, business planning, sustainability, corporate responsibility and environmental matters.
Joe also manages our relationship with the DfT and ORR as well as taking the lead on Corporate Responsibility including Environmental matters.

Duncan Rimmer – Finance Director
Duncan joined GWR in June 2019 and brings a wealth of cross-industry railway experience to the role.
Originally joining British Rail as a graduate in 1993, he has held various roles in FirstGroup, Chiltern Railways and Network Rail.

Amanda Burns – Sales & Marketing Director
Amanda returned to GWR in January 2023. She has over twenty years commercial experience in the travel and tourism industry, including Visit Jersey, Tourism Ireland, bmi British Midland, Star Alliance and BAA Airports.
Passionate about marketing challenger brands in a competitive environment, her focus is to shape, define and execute the commercial sales and marketing strategy. leading the team to focus on driving volume, optimising revenue performance and building customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Daryn McCombe – Train Service Delivery and Performance Director
Daryn joined us in 2015, having held various roles in Transport for London and London Underground.
Daryn leads the Control and Performance function and is the executive sponsor for GWR's delivery of the Heathrow Express operation.
Daryn’s key priority is continuous Train service Performance Improvement working jointly with Network Rail and other key stakeholders so our customer's journeys are disrupted as little as possible.

Simon Green – Engineering Director
Simon joined us in 2018 having undertaken a number of roles, both inside and outside the rail industry, latterly at GTR.
He is responsible for the supply and maintenance of the GWR fleet of trains, including the management of GWR’s maintenance depots and train service provision contracts.

Chris Maxwell – Director of Safety and Environment
Chris joined GWR in 2022 as Director of Safety and Environment, bringing over 20 years of experience gained in the pharmaceutical, defence and aviation industries. He is a chartered safety and health practitioner and holds a PhD in Chemistry from Oxford.
Chris and his team lead GWR’s safety and sustainability programs, ensuring we meet our legal commitments, safeguard our colleagues and customers, and continually improve our environmental performance and sustainability credentials.

Hasn't a woman very recently taken over Richard Rowland's Customer Services bit? To allow him to major on being Deputy MD & Operations Director.

Great Western Railway (GWR) has announced the appointment of Rachel Geliamassi to the new role of Customer Services Director. 

Rachel will be responsible for leading the customer services teams across its stations and trains and ensuring GWR continues to provide the highest level of customer service to its passengers.
The addition of this new role will allow Operations Director Richard Rowland greater focus on operational delivery, particularly with regard to Old Oak Common and HS2 changes, as well as a stronger focus in his role as deputy managing director. 

Rachel will join GWR next month, formally taking up her role in March.

Mark Hopwood – Managing Director

Richard Rowland – Customer Service and Operations Director

Ruth Busby – HR Director

Joe Graham – Business Assurance Director

Duncan Rimmer – Finance Director

Amanda Burns – Sales & Marketing Director

Daryn McCombe – Train Service Delivery and Performance Director

Simon Green – Engineering Director

Chris Maxwell – Director of Safety and Environment

My garden could really do with me having some gardening leave but ...

Glad also that the rumour I read on another forum was unfounded. I was clear here to say rumour only.

I've put them straight at the other place. 

Reading elsewhere that Ben Rule has been given 'gardening leave'. No independent verification and I post as rumour only.

Gardening leave normally precedes a move to a competitor.

Mark Hopwood....he reads everything addressed to him

through to becoming Deputy Operations Director at National Express East Anglia.

As an outsider -
More recently Ben has been leading the strategic input for Operations as part of the
National Express rail franchise bid team.
Take out key players from the opposition?

Ben Rule to join First Great Western as Operations Director

I am delighted to be able to tell you that Ben Rule will be joining First Great Western
as Operations Director. A start date will be confirmed soon.

Ben has more than 15 years experience in the railway industry ranging from
signalling, operations and project roles at Network Rail, being an Inspector at the
Rail Accident Investigation Branch through to becoming Deputy Operations Director
at National Express East Anglia. As Deputy Operations Director he was initially
responsible for the management of performance, train planning and Control before
taking responsibility for traincrew.

More recently Ben has been leading the strategic input for Operations as part of the
National Express rail franchise bid team.

I am sure you will all want to join me in welcoming him to the First Great Western
team. Ben^s knowledge and understanding of the railway industry, in particular in
relation to day-to-day operations and performance and how that impacts our
customers, will be invaluable in tackling the customer service, infrastructure and
project challenges we face as a company.

Andy Mellors
Deputy Managing Director
and Engineering Director

And even the list I found may be out of date. 

The previous issue of RAIL magazine (714) reports that FGW Operations Director, Kevin Gale, has been placed on 'gardening leave'. It doesn't expand further as to reasons. Just a three sentence article toward the back of RAIL that I missed on first reading, but one that may be of some significance.

Purely supposition on my part, but I wonder if he is jumping ship to another TOC or has been head-hunted by DOR? 'Gardening/Garden leave' is a euphemism most often used when a company requires an employee to see out a period of notice, but neither wants them to continue doing their current job or to immediately start work in their new job. Especially if they are leaving to join a competitor....

That list is severely out of date. James Burt left FGW in September 2009. Neil Mickelthwaite left in 2010 and Matthew Golton is now apparently back as Bid Director rather than Projects Director, at least according to his LinkedIn profile.

However the two people most likely to hold the 'safety case' are still in position.

The current list of directors can be seen here:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/About-Us/Our-business/Our-executive-team

FirstGroup has appointed Richard Parry to its rail bid team. Richard joins FirstGroup from Transport for London (TfL) where he worked for 19 years in a range of senior roles, most recently as Deputy Managing Director and Director of Strategy and Commercial for TfL^s London Underground and Rail divisions. Richard has a outstanding record of leadership and delivery with a strong focus on customer service and considerable experience of engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders which will be invaluable in his new role heading the Group's bid for the InterCity West Coast franchise.

Commenting on the appointment Vernon Barker, Managing Director UK Rail, said:

"I am delighted to have attracted someone of Richard's talent and calibre to the Group. The wealth of experience that he brings will be invaluable as we seek to build on our market leadership position in rail and progress the opportunities created by the Department for Transport^s new franchising programme."

Commenting, Richard Parry said:

"As the UK's largest rail operator FirstGroup has unrivalled experience of operating different types of franchises. I am very pleased to be joining the team and look forward to leading the Group's bid for the InterCity West Coast franchise."

So, having gone from removing one layer of management (the old Area Managers), they hasve now managed to ADD a layer (the General Managers) - am I right?

At PAD for example we now have a General Manager (a woman called claire), then a regional manager east (shaun mcbroom)

I suspect the same will be true of central, west and north.

No he's not

Makes it sound like a punishment. "... sent back to Temple Meads" 

No connections with Burt's Crisps by any chance?

Wow.....wonder what prompted that move? He's only been at FGW for 18 months. Bailing out before having to deal in depth with the coming fall-out from the Sept. fares rises perhaps? I had some personal correspondence with James Burt, who called me personally after a particularly disagreeable experience on a Pullman service. He seemed like he genuinely cared about Customer Service. Following so soon after Anrew Haines departure I worry about the future.
To lose one quality director is unfortune, two is careless.....

James Burt has been appointed as Southern's new role of service delivery director, a role which he will join in September from First Great Western, where he is currently the customer service director.

^This is a great time to be joining the successful team at Southern, with a new franchise and in a newly created role," said Burt.

"Painting stations and appointing new directors does not address the real problems.

"The only solution to improving the problems is to substantially invest in new rolling stock."

Glenda Lamont is off to the US of A  according to BBC Points West this evening. Bet she is well chuffed (no pun intended) with this move, how exciting for her. Get away from all those whinging people who expect a decent train service.

Also one of the boses of First Bristol/Bath buses is on his way out. My, First really are having a jolly good clear out down in these parts, long overdue.

James Burt is his name and he isnt a temporary anything. He has been appointed to post full time. He is leaving South West Trains to come and work for FGW. He is currently Operations Director at South West Trains and was previously Customer Services Director for South West Trains.

I understand that it was John Curley who set up the hourly Cardiff - Portsmouth in the first place.

. Good to see Mike Carroll back at GW.

The most interesting move by First is the taking FGW under its wing along with its other rail franchises. Previously FGW was the only franchise run independently of First central control which shows at last they are taking things going on down here seriously.

. I pointed out to him that being put onto coaches because you can't even board the trains is rather more serious, but he claimed that sort of thing should now be over... so that's all right then?!
Duncan

Andrew Griffiths (should be added to the list above)