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

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

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 passenger transport operations professional with 27 years’ experience in the procurement, planning, implementation and delivery of public transport services, both as ultimate operator and as consultant to client/Local Authority organisations.
NS Team
NS Team

Andrew Pike MBA, BA (Hons)

Operations Director

Andy is a commercial, performance and operations specialist with over 20 years’ experience across rail and other regulated industries. Andy has experience in the UK, Middle East and North America, in bidding, the provision of strategic advice and other support to a number of transport organisations.
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 26 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 a railway operations management professional with experience gained on major rail operations readiness and mobilisation projects and high-profile rail bids in the UK, Middle East and Australia. She is skilled in operations management, project and programme management, stakeholder management.
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 10 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 holds over 30 years’ experience in operational and assurance management, with a reputation for leading the design and delivery of sustainable operational solutions and management systems in challenging environments in the UK and overseas, including the Middle East and North America.
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 twenty years' Human Resource management experience in a wide variety of industries including rail and air transport, which have all differentiated themselves by customer service. Geraldene’s experience includes Human Resource management for Heathrow Express.
NS Team
NS Team

Alex Wiid

Senior Consultant

Alex is an analytically-focused economics graduate who has pursued a career in rail operations and customer service projects in both the consultancy and operating company environments. She has worked on several key rail projects in the UK and Dubai, with a particular focus on project planning, coordination and management.
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 extensive experience and knowledge in operational planning gained in both the rail and airport sectors over the last 17 years. He has the skills 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 15 years’ experience in transport and other industries, from frontline to senior management level. She has worked on many significant projects in the UK aviation, rail (including Transport for London), finance, property and energy sectors.
NS Team
NS Team

Isabelle Coombes

Senior Consultant

Isabelle is a transport operations consultant and experienced technical writer of bid proposals and other operational documentation for high-speed, metro and light rail projects. Her key skills include: developing compelling and compliant plans, case studies and CVs; researching and interviewing experts to extract information.
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

James Bonehill

Consultant

James is a transport operations consultant and experienced technical writer of bid proposals and other documentation. Since joining North Star, he has led the establishment and certification of North Star’s Quality Management System to ISO 9001:2015. He is now project managing this on an ongoing basis.
NS Team
NS Team

Amy Woodward

Business Administrator

Amy is North Star’s Business Administrator. Based in London, she supports the global team with bid writing and proposal development, undertakes financial administrative tasks, and supports the maintenance of North Star’s Quality Management System.
NS Team