Board members

Chair

Nicola is a Director at Steer, where she is responsible for client relationships in the North of England. She has expertise in strategic planning, including the development of transport strategies and plans, major scheme business cases, and the integration of land use and transport planning. Prior to this, Nicola was Head of Strategic Planning, Insight and Innovation at Transport for Greater Manchester. She led the development of Greater Manchester's fourth local transport plan as well as the development of several new policy agendas.

She is a chartered town planner (MRTPI) and transport planning professional (CTPP) and was awarded TPS Transport Planner of the Year in 2017. 

Treasurer & Operations Director

Lisa is a Director and Joint Head of Planning at Steer. She has over 25 years’ experience of designing and implementing strategies and programmes which have successfully delivered a sustained level of mode shift away from the car, and increased use of sustainable transport. 

She worked in the United States for six years until 2020 building a Planning practice for Steer and undertaking a range of TDM projects. Most recently she spent two years working at Heathrow Airport, leading the Surface Access Strategy team to deliver a strategy focused on passengers, colleagues and freight.

Company Secretary

Kieran is a former transport planner with London Transport Planning, where he worked on business planning, policy development and strategy, and at London Borough of Hounslow. He joined Steer as a consultant and later became Company Secretary there.

Legally qualified, Kieran has experience in board governance in the NHS and private sector. He is a former member of the board of the Employee Ownership Association. He is now a freelance consultant on transport and governance issues.

Interests include the politics of road pricing and promoting active lifestyles. During lockdown he wrote a website promoting the use of public transport for leisure walking - www.walkbyrail.co.uk

Skills - Making Our Skills Offer More Accessible

Public Sector Partners

Darren is an Associate Director in Strategy Funding and Appraisal team at SYSTRA. He has almost 20 years’ experience working in transport policy and strategy; developing and implementing transport strategies and infrastructure plans, and making the case for investment to improve regional connectivity. Prior to joining SYSTRA in 2018 he worked client side in a range of policy roles including for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Stockport Council.

Webinar Events Lead

Liani is a transport planner and social value expert at Arup. She specialises in embedding outcome-focused approaches within policy, major programmes, and place-based strategies both in the UK and internationally. She has years of experience working across various geographies, supporting knowledge-sharing and dissemination of good practice for the implementation of more inclusive, people-centred and outcome-focused transport solutions. She was awarded the TPS bursary 2021 for her research paper in scenario planning and how it can be adapted to suit various contexts.

Mentoring Lead

Communications

Leigh Bramall has more than 15 years’ experience of working in transport in both private-sector and political roles. He is currently Director of Transport and Sustainability at Counter Context, a national consultancy specialising in strategic communications and advisory services, public consultation, stakeholder engagement and construction comms in support of projects and policies in the built environment. Leigh has been at Counter Context for nine years and has led on Transport since 2020. He has supported the delivery of transport projects and polices as diverse as the Manchester City Centre Transport Strategy; West Yorkshire Mass Transit; Cambridge Biomedical Campus; and TCF, CRSTS and Active Travel Fund projects in Bradford and Sheffield; the transformation of Bradford city centre; Kirklees Council’s Penistone Line Levelling Up Fund bid; and the Sheffield Clean Air Zone. He also leads on Counter Context’s inhouse research on the dynamics of public consultation and community engagement and he regularly speaks at national conferences on the challenges of communicating in support of transport projects in an age of polarisation, and engaging with seldom-heard groups. Alongside his time at Counter Context, Leigh acted as the co-chair of the pro-manchester Transport Committee up to the end of 2025.

Immediately prior to joining Counter Context, Leigh was a politician in local government. He was a councillor on Sheffield City Council for thirteen years between 2004 and 2017. From 2011 and 2017 he held a senior position on the Council as the Executive Member for Transport, the Economy and Devolution. For the final two of these years he was also Deputy Leader of the council. Leigh also served as vice-chairperson of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority for two years, during the period within which it transitioned towards becoming what is now the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. Through both his roles on the Council and SYPTA he played a part in negotiations with government to secure the Sheffield City Region devolution deal – the first to follow Greater Manchester.

Policy Coordinator

Regions and Nations

Regions and Nations Support

Nicky is a Technical Director at WSP, with over 25 years transport planning experience working in the public and private sectors. Nicky has extensive national and international experience with expertise in travel demand management, stakeholder engagement and communications and leadership roles in major projects and programmes. She is passionate about cultivating strong partnerships, collaboration, equality and inclusivity for all in decision-making and delivery Nicky is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Highways and Transport.

Young Professionals Lead

Oliver is a Graduate Transport Planner at PJA, based in the Manchester office, working across a range of public sector and development‑led projects. His experience includes supporting residential and commercial planning applications through access and junction assessments, transport modelling and network development, alongside contributing to active travel–focused feasibility studies, LCWIPs and wayfinding audits. He has a strong interest in inclusive street design and the delivery of high‑quality active travel and public realm schemes that balance movement, placemaking and safety.

Alongside his role at PJA, Oliver sits on the Transport Planning Society Board as Young Professionals Lead and is a member of the North West TPS Committee. In these roles, he champions early‑career professionals and supports learning, collaboration and engagement across the transport planning industry. He looks forward to delivering effective and inclusive networking, learning and development sessions, while strengthening the presence and profile of TPS across the North West.

RTPI Representative 

ICE Representative

Adam Kirkup is the Engineering Networks Manager for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), building engineering knowledge communities and coordination of technical knowledge exchange activity.  He has developed specialist networks for walking, cycling, rail and road, and represents the ICE on the Rail Engineers Forum.  

CILT Representative

CIHT Representative

Director of Skills/ Policy

Keith was Director of the MTRU consultancy and has over 30 years’ experience as a transport planner in a wide range of roles. A previous Chair of the TPS, he has been leading on policy issues including “Agenda for Change”.  In July 2015 he became TPS Director of Skills.

Liaison with Universities

Jonathan is a researcher at the Centre for Transport and Society, UWE Bristol. His research and publications have included autonomous vehicles and their interactions with pedestrians and cyclists, as well as looking at aspects of street design, with a particular focus on side road junctions, including projects with Sustrans, Transport Scotland and the Road Safety Trust. He is on the Executive Committee of the Bristol Walking Alliance and through Scientists for Cycling is on the Scientific Committee for Velo-city, hosted by Lisbon in 2021.

Jonathan has an MSc in Transport Planning from the University of the West of England.

Fellowship and Alumni Development 

Tim is Director of Transport Planning at Jacobs and a leader within the wider Cities and Places part of the business. He has over 30 years’ experience in the industry and has held senior management roles in a number of top-tier consultancies both in the UK and overseas. Developing urban transport strategies, preparing business cases, transport master-planning, and sustainable modes are Tim’s primary areas of expertise. He enjoys working with young professionals and is a supporter of the transport planning apprenticeship scheme, TPS Professional Development Scheme and the TPP qualification.  In his spare time he enjoys mountain biking and country walks.

Bursary Lead

David is a Chartered Transport Planning Professional with 30+ years' experience developing transport projects across the world. He works at Mott MacDonald helping deliver transport strategies for large infrastructure projects. In recent years he has worked to review the impact of Lower Thames Crossing, develop a Mass Rapid Transit scheme in Milton Keynes and help Transport for Greater Manchester prepare 50+ transport business cases. Transport planning has enabled him to work on projects in many countries such as Chile, Puerto Rico, Nigeria and Jordan. Outside work on most Saturday mornings David can be found at his local Park Run.

TPS Account Director 

Jo is the Founder and Chief Executive of JFG Communications, a consultancy specialising in stakeholder engagement, political communications and diversity for the transport industry. As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), Jo is a transport professional and public affairs professional in equal measure. Recognised among the top 100 most influential women in Westminster, Jo has 18 years of experience in helping companies engage their stakeholders, build advocacy about what they do, and inform and influence public policy. Jo oversees the Business Development Manager Contract with TPS.

TPS Business Development Manager

Sarah is Head of Marketing and Operations at JFG Communications, a consultancy specialising in stakeholder engagement, political communications and diversity for the transport industry. As co-ordinator of the TPS Business Development Manager contract, Sarah is responsible for working with the various sub-committees including Communications, Policy and Membership, as well as providing news, job and event updates to the website and liaising with Stakeholder and Business Directory members.