The Secretariat
Senior management team
The Chief Executive is supported by a senior management team comprising the Chief Economist, Chief Operating Officer and two Directors of Policy. This group meets regularly and provides day-to-day oversight of the Commission staff’s activities.
James Heath
Chief Executive Officer
This is a biography for James Heath
James joined the Commission as Chief Executive in May 2020. Previously, James was Director, Digital Infrastructure at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), responsible for advising Ministers on broadband, mobile and telecoms security policy, and overseeing the UK’s £200m million 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme.
Prior to joining the UK Government, James was Director, Policy at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), responsible for public policy, government relations and regulation.
Jonathan Saks
Chief Economist
This is a biography for Jonathan Saks
Jonny joined the Commission in October 2023 having previously worked at the Department for Transport, where he headed up a multidisciplinary analysis division serving the department’s Aviation, Maritime and Security Group. Jonny has extensive senior experience leading analytical programmes across government as well as in a market facing capacity, and has spent nearly 15 years working across a wide transport brief.
As an economist his experience includes leading funding bids and strategic analysis in Spending Reviews and fiscal events, being a senior advisor on public/private funding negotiations, heading up technical delegations at international negotiations, and delivering a range of large, innovative modelling and forecasting programmes. He also lead the analysis on the Global Travel Task Force during the COVID pandemics, and was lead economic advisor at the Airports Commission.
Jonny is also a regular contributor and chair for expert panels at the OECD.
Jen Coe / Hannah Brown
Director of Policy
This is a biography for Jen Coe / Hannah Brown
Jen and Hannah joined the Commission in December 2020, having previously worked together as a successful job-share partnership at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSX. Hannah has experience leading policy development and strategic relationships with industry and infrastructure in a number of Whitehall departments, including HM Treasury, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, and the Office for Life Sciences.
Jen also brings a wealth of policy and Whitehall experience having worked at numerous government departments including the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Margaret Read
Director of Policy
This is a biography for Margaret Read
Margaret joined the Commission in October 2022, having previously worked as part of the RAPID leadership team, a joint Ofwat, Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate unit to speed up water supply infrastructure delivery – a direct result of the Commission’s recommendations in Preparing for a drier future.
Margaret has extensive experience leading policy development in Whitehall, principally in Defra on water supply, flood and coastal erosion risk management, access to the environment and a number of other environmental issues. Her teams have supported Ministers in developing primary and secondary legislation and in working with delivery bodies to implement policy. She has also worked to shape and implement policies in the East of England and was Parliamentary Clerk at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2011-12.
Mark Ardron
Chief Operating Officer
This is a biography for Mark Ardron
Mark joined the Commission as the Chief Operating Officer in April 2021. He has responsibility for the private office, corporate governance, finance, HR and facilities functions within the Commission.
Before joining the Commission, Mark served as the Head of Finance at The Pensions Regulator. He is a qualified accountant and has over 25 years’ experience in a range of public sector bodies, across a wide range of functions, including programme and project management, organisational governance, government spending reviews and debt management. He also has served as a non-executive director within the public sector.
Staff team
A dedicated team of civil servants supports the Commission's work.
The Commission secretariat stands at approximately 50 staff, led by its Chief Executive.
The Commission aims to ensure that its staff brings together a range of public and private sector skills and experience, relevant to the specific projects and workstreams being undertaken.
Our current staff team includes direct employees of the Commission and civil servants on loan from a number of relevant departments (including DfT, BEIS and Defra). We also occasionally second specialist staff for defined periods from local authorities, regulators and the private sector.
Latest updates
James Heath: “pace, not perfection” key to reducing infrastructure emissions
Commission chief executive James Heath spoke this afternoon (6 July) to the 18th Annual UK Sustainable Infrastructure Summit in London. In his remarks he explored the scale of the challenge facing the UK in fully decarbonising its energy systems by 2050 and the principles the Commission is using to guide the recommendations it will make...
James Heath: The future of transport in UK cities
The Commission’s chief executive James Heath gave a speech to the Move 2023 conference in London today (21 June 2023) exploring the questions and emerging themes which are shaping our work on urban transport ahead of the publication of the UK’s second National Infrastructure Assessment later this autumn. Our job at the National Infrastructure Commission...
James Heath’s speech at Northern Transport Summit: Connecting the North’s towns, cities and communities
James Heath, Chief Executive of the National Infrastructure Commission, gave a keynote address at the Northern Transport Summit held in Liverpool today (23 February 2023). In his remarks, James stresses the importance of investing in a more resilient rail service for the North, before outlining the Commission’s approach to analysing the specific role transport modes...