Violeta Bulc is the EU Commissioner for transport, having been appointed to the office in November 2014. Ms Bulc brings a diverse set of expertise and professional experiences to the role. As Commissioner, Ms Bulc has already placed priority on digitalisation, decarbonisation and innovation in transport.

A noted academic, author, systems architect and entrepreneur, Ms Bulc has long had a high profile in her homeland of Slovenia. In the corporate sphere, she held various positions in the telecoms industry, including Telekom Slovenia and Telemach. She has also been the owner and CEO of Vibacom, engaged in work on sustainable and innovative business solutions.

Immediately prior to her appointment to the European Commission, she was the Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia, with ministerial responsibility for development, strategic projects and cohesion.

Dr. Pelin Alpkökin graduated from Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University . She received degree of PhD - Engineering from Nagoya University in 2006. She then continued her post - graduate studies at the same University for two years. Since 2008 she w orks at Istanbul Technical University . Recently she was appointed as the Head of the Department of Rail Systems of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. She has extens ive academic and advisory experience in diverse areas of transportation engineering, transport planning, railway planning and policies , infrastructure project management , contract administration and financing of infrastructure projects.

Mr Carlo Borghini was appointed Executive Director of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking on 16 February 2016. He has held a number of high level positions both in the private and the public sector. His latest position was the European Defence Agency Corporate Services Director. Mr Borghini holds a Master Degree in Business Economics.

Christian Chavanel is UIC Railway System department director. He is a railway professional with more than 30 years of experience in international development, project management, operation, maintenance, safety, standardization, and regulatory affairs. He has served as interoperability and standardization director at SNCF, expert at OTIF, chairman of CEN-CENELEC Sector Forum Rail, PMO and COO (SNCF Regional Transportation), head of Paris Gare de Lyon station, and infrastructure district manager. He is an engineer and a graduate of ESSEC & Mannheim Executive MBA.

Salif has 20 year experience in the transportation industry, where he held various Management positions, especially these past year, Sales Director at SITA, a world leader in solutions for the Air Transport Industry, helping operators transforming their business processes via technologies. Salif has recently joined dgBirds as Chief Commercial Officer. Salif is French and is based in France.

Mr. Naresh Chand Goyal, Indian Railways Traffic Service (IRTS) 1982 Batch is the Principal Executive Director (Safety), Ministry of Railways (Railway Board).

Mr. Naresh Chand Goyal has worked in various capacities in Indian Railways such as

• Adviser (Commercial), Ministry of Railways (Railway Board);
• Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) PTS, Northern Railway;
• Member, Rail Land Development Authority;
• Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway;
• Executive Director Public Grievances to Minister of State for Railways;
• Chief Commercial Manager (G), Northern Railway, etc.

Mr. Naresh Chand Goyal has been trained on Railway subjects in Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy) and Pittsburgh (USA) besides private travels world wide.

Mr. Kawashima is the Director of International Policy and Project Division, Railway Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan. Having joined the Ministry of Transport in April 1997, he has held various positions in the MLIT including rail, air and road transport. Recently, he worked in the International Transport Forum at the OECD, an intergovernmental organization with 60 member countries, and involved in organizing the Annual Summit of transport ministers. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Tokyo and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

An Indian Railway Service of Engineers officer and a gold medallist engineer from IIT Kanpur (M. Tech.) and IIT Roorkee (B.E.), Keshav took over as LMRC Managing Director in 2014. The whole project work so far has been completed under his able leadership with the distinction of being the fastest ever execution metro project in the country.

Before LMRC, he had a long tenure of more than ten years in Delhi Metro and has also worked with international Heavy Haul Rail Project in Queensland, Australia as Project Director – Rail

 

Ulla Metzger holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Darmstadt University of Technology/Germany (2001) specializing in Human Factors. She has been working in this field in academia and industry in the USA and Europe for more than 20 years. Currently, she works as a senior consultant for Strategy, Innovation and New Technologies in the Digitalization and Technology branch for Deutsche Bahn/German Railways in Munich/Germany

Gerald Ollivier is one of the two Transport Cluster Leaders for the World Bank in India. He focuses on developing solutions to enhance urban mobility, achieve sustainable economic integration through multimodal transport, enhance rural connectivity and achieve safer tran sport to better serve the needs of India. He leads the Bank’s Community of Practice on Transit Oriented Development. Prior to India, he was Cluster Leader in the Singapore World Bank Hub. From 2010 to June 2018, he supported the development of metro line s and high - speed rail lines in China, as team leader for the World Bank. From 1995 to 2010, he focused on World Bank trade and transport projects in Europe and Central Asia. He is a civil engineer and a chartered financial analyst.

Rasmi Ranjan Ray joined Bombardier Transportation in 2013 as a Project Director leading the delivery of India’s first driverless Metro solution for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC). In 2015, Mr. Ray became Head of Rail Control Solutions, India and Whole Time Director for India legal entity. He has been instrumental in delivering around 140kms of signalling solution for Delhi Metro across 4 lines.

With over 20 years of experience, he is one of the most seasoned and experienced Indian rail signalling professional having worked and delivered large scale complex infrastructure projects in India, Australia, UK and Europe.

Prior to Bombardier, he worked on various leadership assignments in India, Southeast Asia and Australia at General Electric. He has also worked at Altran Praxis, Siemens & Alstom delivering signalling projects across geographies.

Rasmi has a Global Executive MBA degree from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and an Engineering Degree in Electronics and Telecom from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Rasmi has undergone executive management modules at CEIBS (China Europe International Business School, Shanghai), Wharton and Kellogg School of Management.

Mr. Tilak Raj Seth has a cross functional experience of over three decades. An Electrical Engineer by profession, he has also graduated in law from Delhi University. In addition, Mr. Seth has also taken up several management courses.

Mr. Tilak Raj Seth is with Siemens Ltd. since 1984 and is currently Executive Vice President, at Siemens Limited and is CEO of Mobility Division Siemens Ltd.

During his long stint with Siemens he has handled several challenging assignments and held various key positions across the company. Starting his career in the Projects Division of Siemens, he has since worked in many core technology areas of Industry and Automation. He has been associated with transportation business since 1998.

He possesses a rich experience in management and business processes for high technology areas in India and abroad.

He is known for his holistic outlook, inclusive and dynamic management style and also for his propensity to take firm decisions.

Mr. Seth is an avid reader and is one of the most sought after speaker in the industry and is invited to speak at various prestigious forums across the country.

He is passionate about integrating technologies for sustainable infrastructure development and is associated with key industry and business apex bodies.

Since 2012, Mr . Dinesh Chand Sharma is associated with EUROPEAN STANDARDISATION PROJE CT SESEI as Director – Standard s and Public Policy . In this role and as Seconded European Standardization Expert in India , Mr . Sharma act s as the focal point in India representing European Standards Organizations (ETSI , CEN , CENELEC ) , European Commission (EC) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) . The activity of the Project SESEI is focus ed around sectors covering Smart City, ICT, Automotive and Electrical Equipment including Consumer Electronics. Prior to this , Mr . Sharma worked with Ericsson for 15 years , having last working profile as “Director – Regulatory Affairs & Industry Relation” . Mr . Sharma began his career in Technical Customer Sup port back in 1992 and has over 2 6 years of industry experience covering various profiles such as Head of Regulatory Affairs , Head of Account s & Commercial Management , Service Delivery and Customer Support Management both in India and abroad . Mr Sharma also hold various Industry position such as Chairman Advisory Committee for M2M+IoT Forum India, Chairman - Standards & Policy Working Group of IET IoT Panel, and active m ember ship at Te lecommunication Engineering Centre, Department of Telecom , Bureau of Indian Standards etc. Mr . Sharma h olds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics , highest honors in Business Management from Stratford Institute, USA and a SUN Solaris certification.

An alumni of Institute Catholique d’ Arts et Metiers, Mr. Thibault has 18 years of rich experience in r ailway engineering, management and project execution with Alstom in India, France, China, Italy and Singapore. H e has helmed various roles like Validation and Testing Manager, Interface Manager, Warranty Director and Quality Director.

Jayne Yeo is a Project Officer responsible for Human and Organisational Factors at the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA). An organisational psychologist by training (B.Sc Hons, M.Sc University of London) she has a background in neuroscience research, human resources, behaviour change and now Human and Organisational Factors in Safety.