National Traffic Managers' Conference 2025 - speakers

Angela Jones, a white woman in her late 40s, with shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a floral top and looking at the camera, leaning on a balustrade

Angela Jones, ADEPT President / Director of Thriving Places, Westmorland & Furness Council

Conference Chair

Angela is the Director of Thriving Places at Westmorland & Furness Council. Angela has worked in a mixture of unitary and county councils, across the North West and Wales and has senior leadership experience across place-based services including Economic Development, Highways and Transport, Flood Risk Management, Climate and Nature, Planning, Waste, and Community Services. Angela has significant experience of leading and managing frontline services and complex multi-disciplinary teams, with a robust track record in developing and maintaining strong working relationships with staff, members and external stakeholders.

Gavin James, a white man, 40ish, with light brown hair and beard, wearing a white shirt, grey suit and mustard tie, smiling at the camera

Gavin James, Deputy Director, Traffic & Technology, Department for Transport

Session 1 speaker

Gavin James is the Deputy Director for Traffic and Technology at DfT. His role involves leading national policy on traffic management, including street design, street works, parking and civil enforcement, the Blue Badge scheme, and the adoption of road infrastructure technology. He is the senior responsible officer for the Street Manager and Digital Traffic Regulation Orders digital services. He has worked in a range of policy and digital roles in DfT since 2008, and more recently was the transport advisor to the Secretary of State for Wales, and then DfT’s Deputy Director for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.

Neil Edwards, a white man in his late 40s, bald, with large glasses, wearing a dark suit, pale shirt and copper-coloured tie, looking at the camera

Neil Edwards, Traffic Manager, Kent County Council

Session 2 Chair

Neil Edwards is Traffic Manager at Kent County Council. He started with the council as a Streetworks team leader in 2008 and became the authority’s Traffic Manager in 2018. In this key role, Neil looks after a variety of the council’s vital highway network functions to support Kent County Council’s Network Management Duty and wider council policy and objectives. Neil is the chair of the South East Regional Traffic Managers Forum. He is an avid cricket fan and member of Kent County Cricket Club.

Nicola Cullen, a white woman in her 40s with short, bobbed, brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a blue and grey patterned top and looking into the camera

Nicola Cullen, Deputy Director for Buses Legislation and Policy, Department for Transport

Session 2 speaker

Nicola is Deputy Director for Buses Legislation and policy in DfT and is currently responsible for taking the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill through Parliament and for bus franchising policy and support. She has had a varied civil service career across different departments in the UK and overseas, covering HS2, DfT’s Brexit programme, employment law, better regulation, energy policy and various EU and international policies. She is also a trustee at a Women’s Centre in Watford that provides a range of support to local women, including support for victims of domestic abuse and counselling.

Steve Hunter, a white man in his 50s, bald, wearing glasses and a grey suit, looking at the camera

Steve Hunter, Director of Place, Warrington Borough Council

Session 2 speaker

Steve is an experienced Transport Planner - who has worked at Warrington Borough Council since March 2006 and was appointed as Service Manager to the newly formed Transport for Warrington Service in 2014. He is responsible for a wide range of transport functions including the securing of funding for, development and delivery of major transport schemes, the production of the Council’s transport strategy and Local Transport Plan and a wide range of other day to day functions. He also the Operational Traffic Manager for the Council responsible for ensuring it meets its Network Management Duty under the 2004 Traffic Management Act.

Prior to this he worked for CH2MHill and Jacobs consultancies providing a range of transport services and advice to both public and private sector clients and also for Cheshire and Swindon Councils.

Mark Corbin, a black man in his late 40s, wearing a blue shirt and suit, with a striped tie, smiling at the camera.

Mark Corbin, Director of Network Resilience, Transport for West Midlands

Session 3 Chair

Mark Corbin has over 25 years’ experience working in the Automotive and Highways sectors. He is the Director of Network Resilience at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), and chair of the ADEPT National Traffic Managers’ Forum. He leads a team within TfWM collaborating and working with multiple organisations including the seven local authorities in the West Midlands, Department for Transport, National Highways, HS2, Network Rail and others keeping residents, businesses and visitors informed of transport disruption helping them to plan journeys and keep moving as well. He is recognised nationally by his colleagues as an innovator and a genuine collaborator, seeking to make things happen with a holistic approach.

Kerry Blakeman, a white man in his late 40s, bald, wearing a light blue shirt and facing the camera

Kerry Blakeman, Head of Security and Policing, Transport for West Midlands

Session 3 speaker

Kerry Blakeman is the Head of Security and Policing at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM). Kerry is the Accountable Drone Manager at TfWM having set up the first in-house Combined Authority Drone Team in 2022. The drone team has won two national awards for their innovative use of data and artificial intelligence.

He also leads the Safer Travel Policing partnership on behalf of TfWM which is a dedicated multi-disciplinary team keeping the bus, train and tram networks safe in the West Midlands. Kerry oversees the 24/7 CCTV Control room which has over 5000 CCTV cameras monitoring public transport interchanges.

Kerry is a former Chief Inspector with West Midlands Police where he was responsible for policing major events, firearms incidents and also Security and Policing at Birmingham Airport for 5 years.

Alex Mindell, a man in his 30s, white, with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a dark jacket and open-necked white shirt, smiling at the camera

Alex Mindell, Head of AI Delivery and Public Sector Engagement, DfT

Session 3 speaker

Alex Mindell is Head of AI Delivery and Public Sector Engagement at the Department for Transport, leading efforts to align DfT’s agencies and arm’s length bodies on the use of AI. He previously spearheaded the development of the Transport AI Action Plan, setting out how DfT and the sector will work together to embed AI in transport. Alex brings extensive experience from science and technology roles across government, including reviewing Defra’s R&D portfolio, overseeing climate adaptation and resilience research at the National Physical Laboratory, and prioritising AI concepts for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s Defence AI Centre.