ultraPRT

directors & managers

the Ultra management team comprises a balance of technical and operational experience and are recognized as leaders in the transport systems industry.

Trevor Smallwood OBE – Executive Chairman

Trevor Smallwood joined Ultra as Chairman in 2000, bringing his wealth of critical transport industry knowledge and senior-level contacts.

A former executive chairman of FirstGroup plc, Trevor helped grow the company into a £2 billion business, employing 800 people and with profits of £100 million. He was chairman of Bristol and Sheffield airports and is chairman of the Greater Bristol Foundation charity and a non-executive director of UKRD radio stations and Bristol Water plc.

Peter Rilett – Chief Finance Officer

Peter Rilett joined Ultra in 2006 as Non-Executive Director. Peter is a qualified chartered accountant and spent 33 years with KPMG rising to Senior Partner of the firm’s Bristol office.

His career provided exposure to all sizes of business from SME’s to international listed groups, from a wide range of industries. Peter brings his extensive financial and strategic planning experience to the Ultra.

John Holland Kaye – Non-Executive

John was appointed BAA Commercial Director in May 2009 and became a Director of Ultra two months later.

Previously a Divisional CEO with Taylor Wimpey PLC, John has also been Managing Director of Bass Brewers National Sales Division and has worked as a strategy consultant with LEK Consulting.

Nicky Hopkins – Non-Executive

Nicky was appointed as financial controller at BAA in 2009. Prior to this she held senior financial roles at The TJX Companies, Inc. in the UK, US and Germany, having started her career at Coopers & Lybrand, London. She has been a Director of Ultra since July 2011

Fraser Brown – Managing Director

Fraser was appointed MD of Ultra in April 2011. His remit is to continue the successful development of Ultra by growing the potential new business opportunities across Europe, North America and through partnerships in India.

He was previously Head of Travel Services for BAA at Heathrow and was responsible for all non-terminal retail activity. Prior to this Fraser worked for Exxon Mobil for 10 years across five key managerial business roles in forecourt fuels marketing, commercial vehicles cards business and operations support, before moving on to become Head of Commercial Transport at Gatwick.

Chris Cook – Head of Engineering

Chris Cook joined Ultra in 1999 and is responsible for all the major engineering contracts and development programmes undertaken by the company.

Chris was previously a Board Director and Executive Director of British Rail Engineering Ltd and was a member of a six-man team that led its successful MBO. He succeeded in increasing the group’s turnover by a factor of three to £200 million over four years and transformed the operations from a cash deficit, loss-making position to make it cash-positive and highly profitable.

Before joining Ultra Chris ran a successful business consultancy firm, RCL Limited, specialising in consultancy to the aerospace, defense and transport manufacturing sectors.

Mark Griffiths – Operations Manager

Mark joined Ultra in 2007 and is responsible for all the operational aspects of the company. As part of the management team, Mark is also involved with the continual development of the Ultra product.

Mark has previously worked throughout the transport industry, working in the heavy and light rail sectors as well as undertaking contracts for the Highways agency at the NTCC in Birmingham. Mark was the Director of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering for the East Coast Main Line for several years including managing the transition from the public sector into Network Rail.

Before joining Ultra Mark ran a transport consultancy that undertook installation projects and consultation services for Network Rail, Docklands Light Railway and Manchester Metrolink. He project managed several large projects for the Highways agency including the installation of travel times on the motorway variable message sign network and the updating of the Motorway infrastructure network mapping and information systems.

Martin Lowson – President

Martin was the originator of the Ultra pods system concept while a Professor at the University of Bristol.

Previously, Martin worked in the US on the Apollo Space Program, where he led a team of over 50 staff. He later joined Westland Helicopters, where his roles included Chief Scientist and Director of Corporate Development.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering 1991, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society 1986 and an overseas Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1993.

latest

euronews

Pop on a pod

Euronews has published an article describing the benefits of the Heathrow pod, and how it is ‘…the new way of getting around the urban jungle.’ Read the full article here.