First Speakers Announced!

John fuses design thinking with commercial rigour to shape the future of sustainable travel. With a career spanning start-ups and global operators, they specialise in translating complex operational needs into experiences people love—across trains, stations, and emerging mobility services.

John specialises in convening diverse thinkers to solve tough traveller challenges and create intuitive, human-centred systems that scale across national and international networks.

Weiwei is an innovative designer and strategist who has worked across a wide range of industries from consumer electronics and retail strategy to automotive, rail and aircraft cabin interiors. This cross-sector experience has enabled Weiwei to build knowledge and develop a specialism for innovation in the mobility sector, delivering programme management to clients at board level. During two decades at tangerine Weiwei has worked on over 20 rail projects. She now heads up the rail team at the studio, a position that has enabled her to form key partnerships with high-profile clients such as Volkswagen, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, Talgo and Heathrow Express.

Jim Mathews is President and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, a non-profit organisation that advocates for improved transportation safety and accessibility. He serves on six U.S. Federal government advisory panels and testifying before Congressional committees and regulatory agencies.

Previous achievements include serving four years at the US Dept. of Transportation's National Advisory Committee on Travel & Tourism Infrastructure where Mathews was the principal drafter of the NACTTI’s final report for Congress and DOT in 2020.

Prior to joining the Association in 2014, the Harvard graduate enjoyed a successful 26-year-long career with Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine and he worked as a firefighter/medic in Fairfax County, Virginia, for 13 years until enrolling in the Emergency Pre-Hospital Medicine programme at George Washington University in 2002.

After graduating with a master’s degree in healthcare management in 2010, she started her project and operational management career in Berlin, Beijing, Bangkok, Prague and Vienna.

After being awarded a Master of Business Administration in 2018 Mrs. Pflug specialised in the field mobility holding various Project Management positions at ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG and Austro Control GmbH in Vienna.

In 2022, she returned to ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG in the division of long-distance train services and new rail business, responsible for the commercial implementation of the night and day trains of the new generation, interior refurbishment of old passenger coaches and the design of new long-distance trains.

After her bachelor degree in Media Management, she worked in advertisement and promotion management but decided to change fields.

During her studies and after graduating with a master’s degree in European Studies and European Project Management in 2018, she worked in Higher Education and was responsible for International Student Mobility through EU`s Erasmus+ program and beyond.

In this position she developed the digitalisation of application processes and was acquiring additional funds for Technikum Wien (University of Applied Sciences).

Her passion for rail, trains and project management brought her to ÖBB Personenverkehr AG in 2022, where she manages railway interior in several refurbishment projects and new regional and commuter trains.

Mark van Hagen (1961, Master in Economic Geography) has been heavily involved in public transport for more than 35 years. Mark started his career at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Since 1990 Mark has worked for NS (the principal Railway Operator in the Netherlands) as researcher and consultant customer experience. He is responsible for (innovative) studies on customer demands and measuring customer experience. Analyzing customer data and advising the management of NS is also his responsibility. He received a distinction from the University of Twente, the Netherlands, for his dissertation on “Waiting experience at train stations”, completed in April 2011. Mark has published over one hundred fifty international (scientific) articles with a customer centric view of the experience of public transport modes.

I am an Industrial Designer and understand this as a way of life. Avid observer and willing to learn, discover, research and innovate. Responsive and creative mindest with infinite motivation. I'm a lucky one who discovered and made a living from my talent and passion.

I learn quickly and love to try new things, thoughtful and innovative, but also perfectionist.
I believe in learn by practicing, always in search of creative answers to new challenges, I am also a warrior of change when needed. T-shaped profile although I see myself closer to Renaissance because of the artistic sensitivity and age.

My purpose in life is to share my learnings and leave a better world for the next to come in any of my daily roles: as a father, a coleague, a teacher or a volunteer.

Creative in any form I have access to, and I mean it!.

I love travelling and learning from different cultures and scenarios, I enjoy getting lost in big cities, but prefer to walk in the mountains, when possible with my family.

Human, Ecologist and Global. Respectful, Honest and Inclusive.

Kirsty is the Managing Director of PriestmanGoode. She has been with the consultancy since 2001, following work with the Design Council and the British Council, promoting British design to international markets.

Kirsty has been instrumental in developing PriestmanGoode concepts on the future of transport and establishing the company as thought leaders in design and innovation.

She has recently led key projects in the rail and travel industry including new trains for OBB, on the Cityjet and Nightjet services and innovative concept work to increase capacity in urban transport.

Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain is a Specification Manager at Rail North Partnership, working to improve rail services across the North. She has a passion for transport transformation, accessibility, and innovation, and is also the Chairperson of the Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership.

Christiane Bausback is CEO of N+P Innovation Design, a strategic innovation and design agency, based in Munich, Vienna and Atlanta. She works with a broad range of companies from start-ups to global players while focusing on holistic solutions that build businesses and transform industries. Over the years, she has garnered numerous awards including IDSA, Good Design, Red Dot, and iF. She served as a juror for several awards such as the renowned iF Award, EPD Award,  as well as for the Cannes Lions. Parallel to her professional activities, she lectures in Germany and Switzerland and regularly presents keynote speeches, joins panel discussions, and is a mentor at innovation accelerators.