1. Home
  3. Our People

Our expertise is unique and unmatched within the transport consultancy market. We provide a superb skill set backed up by decades of experience at all levels of management.

Our Story

Backed by decades of collective frontline and managerial experience, we provide our customers with operations and maintenance (O&M) expertise across the full range of the project lifecycle, from strategic advice at the initial concept stage through to hands-on management and delivery.

From our well-established office bases in London, Dubai, and Sydney, we provide a global service offering. With customers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America and Australia, we are trusted internationally thanks to the delivery of world-class O&M solutions to a varied customer base, including operating companies, airports, airlines and other transport industry suppliers.  

In 2009, we opened our second international office in Dubai to address the needs of the growing rail sector in the Middle East region. We have since been commissioned to provide operational support to the start-up of flagship, greenfield, fully automated (GoA4) metro systems, in Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We have also advised on regional rail operations and procurement strategies and provided O&M support for the launch of the Lusail tram in Qatar.

Our Australian entity was established in Sydney in 2018 and has supported many high-profile rail projects throughout Australia, including mobilisation and training support for the Sydney Light Rail CBD & South East line and providing early operator involvement into the Parramatta Light Rail project. We have also been appointed to the Technical Advisory Panel for the Australian National Rail Safety Regulator ONRSR.

Our Team

The North Star team has extensive capability in the consultancy market. The services we offer to our customers are informed by decades of experience at all levels of management in the transport industry.

NS Team

Richard Brown BSc MBA FCIRO

Managing Director

Founder of North Star, Richard has 30 years’ experience in the rail industry. Richard managed operation of the Heathrow Express from start-up, assisted in the preparation of the Docklands Light Railway for the 2012 Olympics and led the team that supported the opening of the Dubai Metro.
NS Team
NS Team

Michaela Keating MCIRO

Managing Director (Asia Pacific)

Michaela is a transport operations professional with over 30 years’ experience in the procurement, planning, implementation and delivery of public transport services, both as ultimate operator and as a consultant to contracting authorities.
NS Team
NS Team

Andrew Pike MBA, BA (Hons)

Operations Director

Andy is an operations, performance and commercial specialist, with over 30 years’ experience across rail and other regulated industries in the UK and overseas. In the rail industry, his experience encompasses frontline operational roles to senior management and consultancy positions.
NS Team
NS Team

Mark McCole

Director of Rail

Mark is an experienced and successful Operations Director and Bid Director with service delivery, operations and performance, transition and mobilisation, financial and commercial management and customer service expertise. He has 30 years’ experience in the UK and overseas, working on large and complex projects.
NS Team
NS Team

Leanne Wheeler

Senior Consultant / Operations Manager (Asia Pacific)

Leanne is an international railway operations management professional with experience in the UK, Middle East, and Australia. Her experience has been gained leading major railway mobilisation projects and producing high-value bids in the transportation, defence and aviation sectors. She is skilled in railway operations management, project and programme management, stakeholder management, bid management and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) technical writing with a focus on quality and compliance.
NS Team
NS Team

Rachael Davidson

Senior Consultant / Operations Manager (Middle East)

Rachael is a rail project and bid management professional and is experienced in bid management, programme management, rail mobilisation, bid and plan writing, quality and compliance. For over 15 years she has practiced these skills delivering tenders to government entities in a variety of disciplines, specialising in the areas of rail, transport and customer service.
NS Team
NS Team

Andy Brooks

Senior Consultant

Andy has over 30 years’ experience in the management of operations and assurance (health, safety, quality, and environmental) issues within complex multi-stakeholder organisations. His work has included the design, implementation, and continual improvement of management systems compliant to external standards and over the course of his career, Andy has sat on several Operating Company Boards, including a non-Executive role for a limited company.
NS Team
NS Team

Bob Houghton

Senior Consultant

Bob joined the North Star team in 2013 with many years of experience working at a senior level across the UK rail industry in both the public and private sectors. A passenger rail commercial specialist, Bob has wide knowledge gained through working across many different organisations within the transport industry.
NS Team
NS Team

Geraldene Lyon

Senior Consultant

Geraldene has over 30 years’ Human Resource management experience in a wide variety of industries including rail, which have all differentiated themselves by customer service.
NS Team
NS Team

Alex Wiid

Senior Consultant

Alex is a transport operations and customer experience professional with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture. Alex has worked on several key rail projects in the UK and Dubai, with a particular focus on project planning and co-ordination, quality management process design and data analysis. Alex has recently extended her area of expertise to include the field of landscape architecture.
NS Team
NS Team

Catherine Noah

Senior Consultant

Catherine is a Human Resource professional with a track record of delivering monumental change projects for a variety of companies predominantly within the transport sector. Catherine has extensive experience in franchise bid development, mobilisation and the provision of strategic advice.
NS Team
NS Team

Matthew Knight

Senior Consultant

Matthew is a rail specialist with over 20 years’ experience across the transport sector. His operational planning skills enable him to forensically analyse and dissect an organisation, recommending strategic changes to improve both profitability and productivity.
NS Team
NS Team

Katrina Lewis

Senior Consultant

Katrina is a customer service specialist with 20 years’ experience in transport and other industries, from frontline to senior management level. Her areas of specialism include customer service, leadership and management and learning and development.
NS Team
NS Team

Isabelle Coombes

Senior Consultant

Isabelle is a transport operations consultant experienced in bid writing and project management for global high-speed, metro and light rail projects. Over the past five years, Isabelle has been engaged on 30+ technical writing assignments, many in a lead role, for customers in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Australia and North America.
NS Team
NS Team

Lesley Dorrington

Senior Consultant

Lesley is a business strategy and management specialist with 23 years’ experience, predominantly in the rail industry. She has held senior Human Resources (HR) roles within a variety of organisations, working collaboratively with senior colleagues at a strategic level, being creative and innovative in recommending both business and HR decisions which have resulted in high-quality solutions to improve businesses and increase value for money and efficiency.
NS Team
NS Team

Spencer Wyatt King

Senior Consultant

Spencer is an international, highly skilled and adaptable bid and technical writing professional with 17 years’ experience managing and delivering high-value tenders in rail, bus, maintenance and other regulated sectors.
NS Team
NS Team

Katy Polley

Operations Support Consultant

Katy is a communications professional with a strong and well-established background in Public Relations, having worked in both the UK and Middle East. In the UK, Katy worked for Metronet in London with the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Line Alliance Civils team.
NS Team
NS Team

Amy Woodward

Business Administrator

Amy is a skilled Business Administrator supporting North Star’s global team and customer base to ensure the development and delivery of high-quality work, acting as a key point of contact to support the delivery of deliverables and milestones on time and to budget.
NS Team