ORR confirms Tracey Barlow and Steve Walker as non-executive directors

1 February 2010
ORR/03/10

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today announced the appointments of Tracey Barlow and Steve Walker to the Board as non-executive directors.

The appointments are for five years, and they will take up their positions with immediate effect.

Commenting on the appointments, Anna Walker, chair, Office of Rail Regulation said: “I am delighted to welcome Tracey and Steve to the Board. Between them, they will bring significant experience including engineering, operational health and safety and programme and change management skills.

“They join us at an exciting time in the rail industry and the role of the regulator will be extremely important in helping the industry drive forward improvements for the benefit of passengers. ORR continues its strategy to help deliver levels of safety and value that rail users and taxpayers rightly demand, whilst ensuring that Network Rail is held to account, and they will be instrumental in achieving this.”

Tracy Barlow said: “This is a complex industry. I want to contribute my commercial, programme and change management experience to ORR's ambitions of increasingly effective rail regulation that meets the needs of the diverse stakeholder interests that support a safe, efficient and effective rail service.”

Steve Walker said: “I’m very much looking forward to joining the Board, particularly to contribute my major project asset management and health and safety operational experience. My public and private sector experience in both regulated and non-regulated businesses will help support my contribution to the activity of the ORR.”

Notes to editors

1. Under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, appointments to the ORR Board are made by the Secretary of State for Transport.
2. Tracey is an independent consultant specialising in business development and capital programme management, working mainly in the water and energy utility markets. She is chairman of a waste to energy technology business based near Southampton and is a non- executive director of the Highways Agency.
   Previously, Tracey was responsible for the delivery of Scotland’s £2.3bn water and wastewater capital infrastructure programmes. She managed this delivery programme through a seven-partner joint venture organisation with Scottish Water. The unique nature and success of the joint venture was recognised through numerous industry, customer, stakeholder and environmental awards.
   She also has extensive operations and customer Services experience, culminating as general manager, networks for multi utility services in the North West of England. Tracey was transition manager for the first water industry operations outsourcing contract involving Welsh Water and United Utilities Plc.
3. Steve is a chartered mechanical engineer who after leaving school worked for British Coal in operational line management and major project roles.  Steve then worked in the Thames Water Group for 19 years, for most of that time he was a director of Thames Water Utilities in the UK, leading engineering, project delivery, asset management, health and safety and capital programme management. 
   For a period he was chairman of a process contracting and operations company in Spain and separately was chairman and group managing director of the Thames Water Products group of companies in the UK and USA which manufactured equipment and supplied water and waste water process solutions. 
   Steve is an Associate Fellow of the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he both teaches and directs Executive education programmes.
4. Tracey Barlow and Steve Walker have been appointed from 1 February 2010 to 31 January 2015. Non-executive directors are paid £21,776 per annum for an average commitment of three days per month.