Young Professionals Panel second cohort

Ann Zhang (Chair)

Economist - Frontier Economics

This is a biography for Ann Zhang (Chair)

Ann is an economist at Frontier Economics and specialises in policy and regulation. She is passionate about supporting better decision making for investment and believes that mission-driven infrastructure policy is the key to tackling some of the biggest challenges facing society today.

Ann works with policymakers to understand the socioeconomic value of infrastructure, and the ways in which we can set investment incentives to deliver its full potential. She has advised on several regulatory reforms across energy, water, transport, and healthcare. In her spare time, Ann enjoys urban planning in Animal Crossing as well as being an avid traveller.

Calum Askins

Strategic Development Manager - Transport for Greater Manchester

This is a biography for Calum Askins

As a Strategic Development Manager Calum develops proposals for new rapid transit interventions such as new interchanges and stops across Greater Manchester. Previously Calum worked in transport modelling and development planning.
He applied to join the Young Professionals Panel as he has always wanted to have an appreciation of the factors that contribute to the north-south differences when it comes to infrastructure. He hopes to be in a position to influence change in this area as his career advances.
Calum holds a Masters in Town Planning and worked in transport for over five years. He began as a transport engineer, moved into microsimulation modelling and is now widening his experience into the development of business cases for public transport interventions, in particular rapid transit schemes.

Sam Cocking

Engineer - University of Cambridge

This is a biography for Sam Cocking

Sam is a structural engineer with interests in historic structures and structural health monitoring. Having previously worked in industry on a range of construction projects, he is now undertaking PhD research at the University of Cambridge, applying novel sensing technologies to gain new insights into the behaviour of masonry railway bridges.

Sam’s work aims to integrate these new sources of data into improved asset management decision-making. In this way, more effective use can be made of our existing infrastructure, repairs can be better targeted to preserve our built heritage, and costly, often carbon-intensive replacements of these structures can be avoided.

Mike Davis

Consultant - PA Consulting

This is a biography for Mike Davis

Mike is a chartered engineer and consultant, currently working in the Energy and Utilities team at PA Consulting.

He works across the infrastructure and low-carbon energy sectors, with technical experience in fields such as district energy, sustainable buildings and the decarbonisation of major infrastructure assets such as airports.

His consulting work includes energy strategy development, helping public- and private-sector organisations to fulfil their decarbonisation objectives, and advisory work such as techno-economic analysis.

Mike has a keen interest in infrastructure policy, particularly strategies for achieving net zero and addressing regional inequality.

Sophie Deas

Senior Sponsor - Network Rail

This is a biography for Sophie Deas

Sophie is a Senior Sponsor with Network Rail in York. She is accountable for the delivery of power supply upgrades on the East Coast Main Line as part of the £1.2bn East Coast Upgrade.

She studied Geography at the University of St Andrews before joining Transport for London on their Graduate Scheme. She worked on a variety of projects, including implementation of intelligent traffic control systems on the road network, crowd modelling for London Underground and feasibility design for Crossrail 2.

Through working on complex major infrastructure projects, Sophie has recognised the importance of taking a cross disciplinary approach and is looking to learn more about how cross sector working can optimise existing and future infrastructure.

Jo Garvey-Rae

Quantity Surveyor - Turner & Townsend

This is a biography for Jo Garvey-Rae

Jo is a quantity surveyor at Turner & Townsend and delivers commercial and contract management roles within the infrastructure sector. Having graduated from the University of Houston in 2014 with a degree in Mathematics, Jo has since completed a Master’s degree in Surveying and Construction and has spent the first seven years of her career helping to drive and deliver value for money projects for major infrastructure clients in the aviation, utilities and currently in the rail sector.

Jo is passionate about diversity and inclusion and has helped to establish an employee network aimed at driving equality and creating a better working environment.

Brittany Harris

Co-founder - Qualis Flow

This is a biography for Brittany Harris

Brittany is a Civil Engineer turned Entrepreneur. After years working in construction and engineering with Mott McDonald and BuroHappold in infrastructure and Water engineering, she decided turn her talents to tackling global challenges and driving change in construction. In April 2018 she co-founded Qualis Flow (Qflow), a software platform that enables a positive shift in the way teams collect and use environmental data on live construction sites.

Qflow uses a unique combination of AI and machine learning to automate the time consuming and error prone process of data capture and analytics, enabling engineering teams to deliver quality and sustainability and minimise project risk. Brittany has built a team of amazing developers and data scientists to help realise her vision for a more sustainable future and launch Qflow on major construction projects across the UK.

Monica Laucas

Economist - Buro Happold

This is a biography for Monica Laucas

Monica is an economist within the Cities Consulting team at Buro Happold, with extensive international education in urban sociology and economic development gained at University of Milano-Bicocca, Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics (LSE).

Monica has experience working on socio-economic and policy assessments for major property and infrastructure projects, a track record in feasibility studies and optioneering for urban infrastructure schemes and experience with the application of Sustainable Return on Investment (SuROI) in regeneration and community projects.

Monica is also a regular contributor to international thought leadership; she recently attended by invitation the World Policy Forum, international conference developing policy recommendations for the G20, and the 2019 World Bank Youth Summit to discuss sustainable infrastructure and inclusivity in smart city frameworks.

Cissie Liu

Energy Transition Consultant - Accenture

This is a biography for Cissie Liu

Cissie is an energy transition consultant at Accenture.

Cissie has led and advised on implementation of policies and regulation that shape the efficient management and development of existing, and future, energy infrastructure to ensure it meets the needs of consumers and enables a net zero future.

Previously, Cissie has worked on setting price controls at Ofgem, the economic energy regulator, and SSEN Transmission. She has also worked in public affairs, advising clients on the impacts of legislative changes in both GB and Canada within the forestry, rail, and energy sectors. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy.

Caroline Reeson

Asset Management Advisor - Mott MacDonald

This is a biography for Caroline Reeson

With a background in civil engineering, Caroline previously worked in the design and build part of the business, Mott MacDonald Bentley. She now works primarily in the water sector, specialising in water and wastewater infrastructure planning and climate resilience. Her most recent projects have looked at the role of nature-based solutions and innovative technology to improve resilience to extreme weather events, increasing water scarcity and providing alternative low carbon solutions to help clients achieve their net-zero ambitions.

Caroline was attracted to a career in infrastructure to work on meaningful projects which create a lasting and sustainable difference for the environment and communities through social outcomes. She also promotes these values in her outreach work with local students, and her leadership roles for Girlguiding and The Scout Association.