Speakers
Michelle Craven-Faulkner
Mark Ferguson
Chris Parker
Melanie Read
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Michelle Craven-Faulkner is a Partner at Shoosmiths LLP and one of the UK's leading advisers to the transport and rail sector. She leads the firm's National Rail practice and heads its Complex Contracting team, advising clients on some of the industry's most significant commercial, procurement, regulatory and supply chain matters.
With more than 25 years' experience working across transport, manufacturing, supply chain and infrastructure, Michelle began her career in-house at Alstom Transport before moving into private practice. Her experience spans all aspects of the transport sector looking at operation, manufacturing, regulation, supply chain, engineering and major projects, giving her a unique understanding of both the commercial and operational challenges facing the sector.
Michelle has a particular specialism in rail and advises a broad range of organisations across the rail ecosystem, including manufacturers, operators, infrastructure providers, technology businesses and supply chain companies. She is particularly recognised for her expertise in complex commercial arrangements, public procurement, supply chain resilience and rail industry reform. Recent work has included advising on major rolling stock and infrastructure programmes, strategic supply chain projects and matters connected with the future structure of Britain's railway
Beyond her client work, Michelle is a longstanding industry leader and advocate. Having served on the Rail Forum board since 2004 and having recently been appointed its Chair, she works closely with industry stakeholders, government departments and sector bodies to support the development of the UK rail industry. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events and is regularly sought out for her insight on rail policy, investment, procurement and supply chain issues. In 2025, she gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee as part of its inquiry into rail investment pipelines.
Michelle is valued for combining deep sector knowledge with practical commercial insight, helping organisations navigate change, manage risk and deliver successful outcomes in a rapidly evolving transport landscape.
Presentation: Innovation – why good ideas fail at procurement, and how to fix it Wednesday @ 3:00 PM
Mark Ferguson runs the Supply Chain and Digital Infrastructure Twin practice for InterSystems UK&I.
Clean, real time, trusted data from multiple and disparate (often legacy IT) sources is critical for most public/ private sector organisations, projects and initiatives. InterSystems has spent 45 years helping to solve complex challenges for many clients and partners in this arena.
In the digital twin infrastructure environment for healthcare and other sectors (including transport, energy, water and heat), InterSystems provides the Data Backbone to manage real time data from multiple sources to support timely decision-making, cross organisation collaboration and overall data governance.
With 25 years in supply chain digital transformation and business technology, Mark is driving innovation, where he helps (public and private sector) organisations orchestrate real-time data to accelerate operational performance. Mark works closely with InterSystems partners and their clients to design and implement interoperability-driven data solutions (for supply chain infrastructure, digital twins, and many other use cases) built on InterSystems’ AI enabled, high-performance, intelligent data platforms.
Panel: Data – turning information into passenger and organisational value Wednesday @ 1:20 PM
Chris Parker MBE is a strategic level expert in Cyber Governance. He is Visiting Professor of Cyber Security at the University of South Wales, an NCSC Gold Award Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education.
A strategic leader, Chris is Co-Chair of the techUK Cyber Resilience Committee Industry and Co-Chair for the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Integration Working Group. In addition, he chaired the DESNZ Cybersecurity Supply Chain COPP from 2023-2024, is a board member of the techUK Cyber Growth Partnership and a guest lecturer for the UK Government’s Chevening Fellowship. He is a judge and Advisory Board Member for the UK National Cyber Awards. Chris holds a master’s degree in technology and has two post-graduate diplomas in Strategic Management
Panel: Securing the transport system – cyber resilience for critical infrastructure Wednesday @ 3:40 PM
This year’s theme, “Strategy to Delivery”, focusses on the implemtation of ambitious government strategy across UK transport.
