Directors appointed to take charge of Northern regions
NORTHERN has created four business regions, and appointed four regional directors to run them.
Based in Leeds, Manchester, Preston and Newcastle, it will be the responsibility of the directors to develop services locally. They will ‘go live’ from July 1, and the regions are: ■ Central (covering Clitheroe, Colne, Crewe, Stoke and Buxton). ■ East (covering Hull, Nottingham, Todmorden and Armathwaite). ■ North-East (covering Carlisle, Whitby, Chathill and Teeside Airport). ■ West (covering Ellesmere Port, Liverpool, Blackpool and the Cumbrian Coast).
“Regions are the heart of our new franchise. They will enable the transformation of Northern, bringing our people and service delivery closer to the communities and customers we serve,” said Northern Managing Director Alex Hynes.
He said the four directors would use the company’s extensive local knowledge to build services that meet the needs of the particular regions. In April, Hynes told RAIL 800 that the directors would lead their respective regions, and that it would be up to them regarding how they best serve the local areas.
The regional directors are: Liam Sumpter (Central), Paul Barnfield (East), Mike Paterson (North-East) and Sharon Keith (West).
Sumpter said: “It’s such an exciting time for the whole region - we cannot fail to be inspired. I am delighted to be part of that.”
He joins Northern from Network Rail, where he was Area Director for the West Midlands and Chilterns. In this role he oversaw the opening of New Street Gateway and the East West Rail link to Oxford Parkway. He had been at NR since 2002.
Barnfield has been at Northern since 2010, where he was Director of Operations. He joined from National Express East Anglia.
Paterson joins Northern from PA Consulting, where he was Principal Consultant leading change management in a Defence Infrastructure programme. Prior to that he was a Captain in the Royal Navy, including being Captain of HMS Gloucester. He served operational deployments to the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Congo, Lebanon and the Falklands.
Keith joins Northern from Tyne & Wear Metro, where she has been MD for 18 months. She worked for Metro for six years, and before that was with GNER.