Stephen is the Commercial Projects Director for Network Rail
with accountabilities to strengthening commercial stewardship,
benchmarking and supply chain collaboration across the 
capital works portfolio.

His role also brings a strategic emphasis to cross industry
collaboration, with responsibility to lead commercial innovation
and market engagement through various forums with industry
stakeholders, clients, suppliers and professional bodies.

Examples include leading the award winning Commercial
Directors’ Forum, representing Network Rail with Build UK, the Institute of Collaborative Working and the Infrastructure Clients Group as well as regular engagement with RIA, CECA, CICES and the RICS Infrastructure Steering Group.

With 21 years of rail experience and over £12bn of major infrastructure works procured and commercially managed under his auspices, he is well versed in commercial dynamics of rail infrastructure delivery.

He is also highly regarded for his collaborative approach to driving industry change through innovation and the promulgation of best practice. Leading examples include the adoption of the rail industry’s Fair Payment Charter, the abolition of retentions, deployment of Dispute Avoidance Panels and the Rail Method of Measurement. In 2018 he led Network Rail’s successful transition from BS11000 to become the first UK client to secure ISO44001, the international accreditation for collaboration.

Stephen is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors and an active contributor to cross-industry working groups, conferences and publications. 

Known for his zeal in the pursuit of progressive commercial techniques and effective partnerships, in 2012 Stephen was identified as one of 14 UK Fair Payment Champions by the National Specialist Contractors Council and in 2015 received the Collaborative Leadership Award from the Institute for Collaborative Working.