The Advisory Board

As the first PPP Arbiter, Chris Bolt attaches particular importance to the Office establishing its technical credibility and independence from both Government and the Parties to the Agreements and to its adopting appropriate best practice in its governance and procedures. To that end, he has also established a non-statutory Advisory Board. In addition to the Arbiter and Director the Advisory Board has the following members:

Peter Gray is a Partner in the firm Shadbolt and Co and previously the Projects and Energy department of Linklaters which he left in 2003. He joined Linklaters in 1984 and became a Partner in 1989. From 1991 to 1993 he was a partner in the firm's Tokyo office, heading it from 1993 to 1996. He established the firm's project finance practice in Japan. His previous careers include three years as commercial legal adviser and parliamentary draftsman to the Attorney General of Kenya. He has advised on a wide range of international, UK domestic project finance and PFI transactions and is now a part time legal consultant.

Keith Lloyd retired in September 2003, from his position as a Vice-President of ALSTOM Transport UK. In recent years, he has devoted most of his time to privately financed rail projects, as Chairman of Phase 1 of the Manchester Metrolink and the Arlanda Airport Rail Link in Sweden and founder of the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Consortium. He is also a past Chairman of the Railway Forum and the Railway Industry Association. Dr Lloyd has a PhD from the University of Manchester and is a member of its Board of Governors.

John O'Brien is Chairman of Veolia Environnement's transport business in Australasia and the UK.  Previously, he was Commercial Director at Railtrack plc, having earlier been its Director of Property and New Business. Before that, he was the Government's Franchising Director (and previously Chief Operating Officer) at OPRAF, where he was responsible for the successful delivery of the initial franchising of Britain's 25 passenger train companies. He is a Chartered Accountant with broad commercial experience, including senior roles in Granada Group plc. He was also a founder member of the Government's Commission for Integrated Transport.

John Thomas is Director of Regulatory Economics at the Office of Rail Regulation. He leads the development and implementation of economic and financial policy underpinning ORR's regulation of the rail industry. Prior to joining ORR in July 2001, John was a transport economist with Halcrow for seven years. He worked on the development and evaluation of transport policies and projects across all modes of transport, for Governments and the private sector, in the UK and overseas. He has also worked for Lloyds London for three years. He has an MA in Transport Economics from the University of Leeds.

Andrew Géczy currently heads Manresa Partners, which he established in October 2005 to act as both principal and advisor in originating, structuring, financing, developing and managing a diversified portfolio of assets.  From 1991 to 2005, Andrew worked for Citigroup, most recently as Global Head of Structure Corporate Finance.  He was a member of the Investment Bank Operating Committee, the Global Banking Operating Committee and the Fixed Income Management Committee.

The Arbiter demands that neither his Office nor his Advisory Board put themselves in a position where their duties and private interests conflict. The Office's Register of Interests records current interests.