Natalie L.
Executive Director at NTRO - National Transport Research Organisation- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Steve Loxam
I worked with Natalie when she was key business representative defining detailed business requirements for the Transport for Greater Manchester Smart Ticketing system. Her knowledge of both the Rail and Bus industry was exemplary providing myself and my procurement team was an in-depth insight into the transport industry. She is a true professional in everything she did, delivering information on time and to the highest quality and providing support and guidance to my team. Without Natalie's input the requirements would not have been as comprehensive as they needed to be to obtain a smart ticketing system the people of Manchester deserve. In her line role at TfGM she managed her staff in firm but inclusive manner allowing her staff to undertake their day to day role but with the knowledge that she was there for them to provide advice and guidance if it was require
LinkedIn User
I had the pleasure of working with Natalie whilst she was in the role of Customer Service Director at Northern Rail. Natalie successfully re-embedded a customer centric focus into the operational roles within the business, through front line operational employee engagement and attendance at the monthly Customer Experience Steering Group meetings. This steering group was established by Natalie to bring together senior representatives of the various functions within the business, and allow a cross functional strategic consensus on customer service to be established. Natalie identified the value in involving front line employees in this process at the strategic level and was keen to engage front line employees in the decision making process. Natalie appointed me, as a member of train crew, along with a colleague from station operations, as permanent attendees of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and we engaged with other front line employees through our wider ‘Northern Crowd’ group, to ensure that a wide range of views and suggestions were fed in to the decision making process at the strategic level. Although some were initially sceptical of the approach taken by Natalie, she displayed such a passion for getting customer service right within the operational functions of the business, and ultimately proved that this approach delivered fantastic results. The autumn 2015 National Passenger Survey results, carried out by independent group Transport Focus, gave Northern Rail its best ever franchise score of 84% overall satisfaction, with a number of individual scores across a range of questions also improving significantly. These results were directly linked to the work of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and the input from the various functions of the business, for example initiatives to improve Passenger Information During Disruption, Digital Information ‘Kiosks’ at unmanned stations and Station Ticket Office standards. Natalie’s approach has shown that engaging the people who deliver on the shop floor and taking that front line experience to form the basis of the strategic direction will, despite what is seen as conventional wisdom sometimes saying otherwise, deliver significant improvements in customer service delivery, but more importantly, these improvements will be delivered consistently across the relevant roles within the organisation. I would highly recommend Natalie to any organisation which is looking to engage with their employees and use this to develop and improve the customer experience that they deliver.
Steve Loxam
I worked with Natalie when she was key business representative defining detailed business requirements for the Transport for Greater Manchester Smart Ticketing system. Her knowledge of both the Rail and Bus industry was exemplary providing myself and my procurement team was an in-depth insight into the transport industry. She is a true professional in everything she did, delivering information on time and to the highest quality and providing support and guidance to my team. Without Natalie's input the requirements would not have been as comprehensive as they needed to be to obtain a smart ticketing system the people of Manchester deserve. In her line role at TfGM she managed her staff in firm but inclusive manner allowing her staff to undertake their day to day role but with the knowledge that she was there for them to provide advice and guidance if it was require
LinkedIn User
I had the pleasure of working with Natalie whilst she was in the role of Customer Service Director at Northern Rail. Natalie successfully re-embedded a customer centric focus into the operational roles within the business, through front line operational employee engagement and attendance at the monthly Customer Experience Steering Group meetings. This steering group was established by Natalie to bring together senior representatives of the various functions within the business, and allow a cross functional strategic consensus on customer service to be established. Natalie identified the value in involving front line employees in this process at the strategic level and was keen to engage front line employees in the decision making process. Natalie appointed me, as a member of train crew, along with a colleague from station operations, as permanent attendees of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and we engaged with other front line employees through our wider ‘Northern Crowd’ group, to ensure that a wide range of views and suggestions were fed in to the decision making process at the strategic level. Although some were initially sceptical of the approach taken by Natalie, she displayed such a passion for getting customer service right within the operational functions of the business, and ultimately proved that this approach delivered fantastic results. The autumn 2015 National Passenger Survey results, carried out by independent group Transport Focus, gave Northern Rail its best ever franchise score of 84% overall satisfaction, with a number of individual scores across a range of questions also improving significantly. These results were directly linked to the work of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and the input from the various functions of the business, for example initiatives to improve Passenger Information During Disruption, Digital Information ‘Kiosks’ at unmanned stations and Station Ticket Office standards. Natalie’s approach has shown that engaging the people who deliver on the shop floor and taking that front line experience to form the basis of the strategic direction will, despite what is seen as conventional wisdom sometimes saying otherwise, deliver significant improvements in customer service delivery, but more importantly, these improvements will be delivered consistently across the relevant roles within the organisation. I would highly recommend Natalie to any organisation which is looking to engage with their employees and use this to develop and improve the customer experience that they deliver.
Steve Loxam
I worked with Natalie when she was key business representative defining detailed business requirements for the Transport for Greater Manchester Smart Ticketing system. Her knowledge of both the Rail and Bus industry was exemplary providing myself and my procurement team was an in-depth insight into the transport industry. She is a true professional in everything she did, delivering information on time and to the highest quality and providing support and guidance to my team. Without Natalie's input the requirements would not have been as comprehensive as they needed to be to obtain a smart ticketing system the people of Manchester deserve. In her line role at TfGM she managed her staff in firm but inclusive manner allowing her staff to undertake their day to day role but with the knowledge that she was there for them to provide advice and guidance if it was require
LinkedIn User
I had the pleasure of working with Natalie whilst she was in the role of Customer Service Director at Northern Rail. Natalie successfully re-embedded a customer centric focus into the operational roles within the business, through front line operational employee engagement and attendance at the monthly Customer Experience Steering Group meetings. This steering group was established by Natalie to bring together senior representatives of the various functions within the business, and allow a cross functional strategic consensus on customer service to be established. Natalie identified the value in involving front line employees in this process at the strategic level and was keen to engage front line employees in the decision making process. Natalie appointed me, as a member of train crew, along with a colleague from station operations, as permanent attendees of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and we engaged with other front line employees through our wider ‘Northern Crowd’ group, to ensure that a wide range of views and suggestions were fed in to the decision making process at the strategic level. Although some were initially sceptical of the approach taken by Natalie, she displayed such a passion for getting customer service right within the operational functions of the business, and ultimately proved that this approach delivered fantastic results. The autumn 2015 National Passenger Survey results, carried out by independent group Transport Focus, gave Northern Rail its best ever franchise score of 84% overall satisfaction, with a number of individual scores across a range of questions also improving significantly. These results were directly linked to the work of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and the input from the various functions of the business, for example initiatives to improve Passenger Information During Disruption, Digital Information ‘Kiosks’ at unmanned stations and Station Ticket Office standards. Natalie’s approach has shown that engaging the people who deliver on the shop floor and taking that front line experience to form the basis of the strategic direction will, despite what is seen as conventional wisdom sometimes saying otherwise, deliver significant improvements in customer service delivery, but more importantly, these improvements will be delivered consistently across the relevant roles within the organisation. I would highly recommend Natalie to any organisation which is looking to engage with their employees and use this to develop and improve the customer experience that they deliver.
Steve Loxam
I worked with Natalie when she was key business representative defining detailed business requirements for the Transport for Greater Manchester Smart Ticketing system. Her knowledge of both the Rail and Bus industry was exemplary providing myself and my procurement team was an in-depth insight into the transport industry. She is a true professional in everything she did, delivering information on time and to the highest quality and providing support and guidance to my team. Without Natalie's input the requirements would not have been as comprehensive as they needed to be to obtain a smart ticketing system the people of Manchester deserve. In her line role at TfGM she managed her staff in firm but inclusive manner allowing her staff to undertake their day to day role but with the knowledge that she was there for them to provide advice and guidance if it was require
LinkedIn User
I had the pleasure of working with Natalie whilst she was in the role of Customer Service Director at Northern Rail. Natalie successfully re-embedded a customer centric focus into the operational roles within the business, through front line operational employee engagement and attendance at the monthly Customer Experience Steering Group meetings. This steering group was established by Natalie to bring together senior representatives of the various functions within the business, and allow a cross functional strategic consensus on customer service to be established. Natalie identified the value in involving front line employees in this process at the strategic level and was keen to engage front line employees in the decision making process. Natalie appointed me, as a member of train crew, along with a colleague from station operations, as permanent attendees of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and we engaged with other front line employees through our wider ‘Northern Crowd’ group, to ensure that a wide range of views and suggestions were fed in to the decision making process at the strategic level. Although some were initially sceptical of the approach taken by Natalie, she displayed such a passion for getting customer service right within the operational functions of the business, and ultimately proved that this approach delivered fantastic results. The autumn 2015 National Passenger Survey results, carried out by independent group Transport Focus, gave Northern Rail its best ever franchise score of 84% overall satisfaction, with a number of individual scores across a range of questions also improving significantly. These results were directly linked to the work of the Customer Experience Steering Group, and the input from the various functions of the business, for example initiatives to improve Passenger Information During Disruption, Digital Information ‘Kiosks’ at unmanned stations and Station Ticket Office standards. Natalie’s approach has shown that engaging the people who deliver on the shop floor and taking that front line experience to form the basis of the strategic direction will, despite what is seen as conventional wisdom sometimes saying otherwise, deliver significant improvements in customer service delivery, but more importantly, these improvements will be delivered consistently across the relevant roles within the organisation. I would highly recommend Natalie to any organisation which is looking to engage with their employees and use this to develop and improve the customer experience that they deliver.
Credentials
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MAICD
Australian Institute of Company DirectorsSep, 2022- Nov, 2024 -
Degree level Quality Management
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ISO/EFQM BEM/Lean trained
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PRINCE2 Practitioner
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PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner Certification Training
TPG (APM) UK
Experience
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NTRO - National Transport Research Organisation
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Australia
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Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage
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1 - 100 Employee
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Executive Director
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Aug 2023 - Present
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Metro Trains Melbourne
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Australia
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Rail Transportation
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700 & Above Employee
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General Manager
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Jul 2019 - Present
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Forest Blue Limited
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United Kingdom
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Business Consulting and Services
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Director/Owner - on a journey to improve the Customer Experience in transport across the globe
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Apr 2016 - Present
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Transdev Australasia
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Australia
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Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage
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300 - 400 Employee
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Managing Director Queensland (Bus/Ferry) and Group General Manager CX
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Feb 2017 - May 2019
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Serco Transport (United Arab Emirates)
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Consultant (Six month fixed term + extension)
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Apr 2016 - Jan 2017
Customer Experience - Executive Sponsor for two greenfield transport bids in light rail and metro - via Forest Blue Limited and North Star Consultancy. Supporting all elements of the Customer Experience from segmentation and touchpoint identification to all journey and experience components. Customer Experience - Executive Sponsor for two greenfield transport bids in light rail and metro - via Forest Blue Limited and North Star Consultancy. Supporting all elements of the Customer Experience from segmentation and touchpoint identification to all journey and experience components.
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Northern Rail
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North of England
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Customer Service Director
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Feb 2014 - Apr 2016
Always focused on working with the great people of a business with the overarching aim of making the customer experience amazing, Northern Rail Limited was no exception. An Abellio and Serco joint venture, with a geographically diverse Network carrying 96 million customer journeys a year, having 465 stations and operating over 2,500 services a day. Held direct responsibility for the staffing, operation and maintenance of facilities at stations, in addition to accountability for customer contact and the overall customer experience. Evolving the culture into a truly Customer Service focused organisation whilst working closely with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure that best value achievements and practice were progressed. Whilst the Northern customer experience still had a long way to go to meet customer expectations, I am very pleased to say that I laid the strong foundations that earned a North of England Excellence Special Award for Customer Service Excellence (November 2015), Customer First Accreditation (2015) and the best ever National Rail Passenger Survey results Autumn 2015 (received January 2016). I placed a successful focus on the customer that has enabled the 'new Northern' (the new Franchise) to commence in the top ten of Franchised Train Operators and a long way way from the bottom of the customer perception league table, which is where the organisation was in February 2014. It's over to Arriva as a completely new business to see how it progresses... Show less
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Bluelight Consultancy
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Manchester, United Kingdom
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Quality Nominee
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Nov 2011 - Nov 2014
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FirstGroup plc
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United Kingdom
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Truck Transportation
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700 & Above Employee
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Executive Sponsor - Customer Experience
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Feb 2012 - Jan 2014
Primarily a bid role but with additional facilitation in the field of Smart Ticketing and National Rail Passenger Survey and Net Promoter Score planning. My key focus on defining the customer experience for transport bids across all touchpoints. Primarily a bid role but with additional facilitation in the field of Smart Ticketing and National Rail Passenger Survey and Net Promoter Score planning. My key focus on defining the customer experience for transport bids across all touchpoints.
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Transport for Greater Manchester
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United Kingdom
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Truck Transportation
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500 - 600 Employee
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Smart Ticketing Programme: Bus & Rail Operator Lead (3 month Fixed Term Contract)
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Dec 2011 - Feb 2012
Short term contract to February 2012 with specific objectives of determining operator partnership working for the introduction of a Smart Ticketing Scheme for Greater Manchester in addition to acting as Evaluator on the Smart Ticketing Solution procurement.
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Passenger Services Executive (Fixed Term Contract - with extension)
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Jun 2010 - Nov 2011
Programme & Team/Senior Stakeholder Relationship Management Responsible for several functional departments of the Bus & Rail Directorate (namely the Bus Station Operations, the Operational Service Planning and the Crime Reduction Advisory teams) along with leading the relationship with operators to gain an integrated introduction of Smart Ticketing in Greater Manchester.Across each of the business areas, but also for the overall Bus & Rail Directorate, a key focus on the visibility of good practice and continuous improvement, particularly where performance/progress did not meet expectations business or customer expectations. This is in addition to this providing people management, business planning and partnership working support across the organisation with a strong focus on internal and external customer service provision Show less
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Institute of Directors (IoD)
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United Kingdom
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Non-profit Organizations
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200 - 300 Employee
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West of Scotland Committee Member
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2006 - 2011
Contribution to the West of Scotland regional strategy and direction for the body representing Directors on a national level in the United Kingdom. Contribution to the West of Scotland regional strategy and direction for the body representing Directors on a national level in the United Kingdom.
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Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
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Glasgow, United Kingdom
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Director of Corporate Services, Customer Liaison and Communications
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Dec 2007 - Jun 2010
Joining an organisation that was the subject of a damning publication from the National Audit Office report within the first week in post. Immediately setting plans in place to deliver improvements for the customer (innocent victims of violent crime) to address recommendations and concerns, whilst also taking the opportunity to step back and consider the bigger picture to ensure that ‘the wheel wasn’t reinvented’ where it wasn’t necessary - some great people with some great ideas and practice just needed the opportunity to shine! Took the first steps by ensuring that the organisation’s key performance indicators and aims fed through to an overarching corporate plan to provide clarity and structure for all, with a specific focus on organisational design. With an extremely diverse area of responsibility setting policy and direction for Organisation Development (Human Resource and Learning & Development), Communications, Customer & Stakeholder Liaison and Office Services - overcoming some levels of inertia across the organisation being the first major challenge. Show less
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First ScotRail
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Scotland
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Customer Service Director
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Jan 2005 - Nov 2007
Driving forward the area of service quality and standards within a highly regulated establishment of 4000+ employees. Achieving progress within a franchise managed environment with a term of 7 years plus 3. Evolving the culture into a truly Customer Service focused organisation whilst working closely with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure that best value achievements and practice were progressed. With a functional area including responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the 342 stations across the Scottish Network with £40 million invested in facilities, along with management of associated contracts and suppliers. Development, improvement and monitoring of quality standards in all areas of delivery in addition to setup and management of a Customer Contact Centre accounting for ticket sales and all correspondence from customers. From a strong focus on process and continuous improvement as Service Quality Director for the organisation, progressing to take an overarching Customer Service Director role to ensure that customers were placed at the centre of all strategic organisational and local plans. Show less
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Transformation and Culture Change Programme Manager/Quality Manager
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Dec 2000 - Jan 2005
Organisation now NPIA. Worked for the organisation when it was Centrex and prior to that National Police Training Change Programme Manager Centrex One of two individuals responsible for the overall management of strategic projects fulfilling the transition of the business from being a fully funded Home Office organisation to a Non Departmental Public Body. The overall programme included projects covering organisational progression, leadership development, learning & development framework construction along with formative & summative evaluation of products & services all initiated as a result of Ministerial priorities and Home Secretary specific objectives, using ISO and EFQM Excellence Model. Delivering all on time, within budget and exceeding the high quality standards agreed within the Project Initiation Documents. Quality Assurance National Police Training/Centrex Responsible for managing a portfolio of projects across Home Office Police Forces throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Responsible for developing, implementing and continuously improving quality management systems, with a specific focus on Best Value and the principles of quality models. Also holding accountability for the assessment of these Police Forces against approval criteria in seeking an award along with providing post-assessment support and strategic guidance. A further responsibility for carrying out evaluation of learning and development programmes, and associated quality systems ranging from PCSO through to senior officers programmes. Show less
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Joseph Priestley College
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Education Administration Programs
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1 - 100 Employee
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Learning Programme Coordinator
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1998 - Dec 2000
Leading (as well as delivering sessions in) a diverse curriculum with a portfolio spanning six programme areas. Management, coordination, development & monitoring of the curriculum areas in a multi-site environment including self-assessment, preparation for inspection, teaching observation, business planning, marketing, staff management, resourcing & management of devolved budget. Leading (as well as delivering sessions in) a diverse curriculum with a portfolio spanning six programme areas. Management, coordination, development & monitoring of the curriculum areas in a multi-site environment including self-assessment, preparation for inspection, teaching observation, business planning, marketing, staff management, resourcing & management of devolved budget.
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HCFE
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Hartlepool
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Lecturer
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1996 - 1998
Commencing with a part-time teaching post, progressing to managing a diverse curriculum. Delivery to a number of different groups from entry level programmes to HNC/HND module tutoring preparing students for primary school teaching and emergency service training. Commencing with a part-time teaching post, progressing to managing a diverse curriculum. Delivery to a number of different groups from entry level programmes to HNC/HND module tutoring preparing students for primary school teaching and emergency service training.
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Education
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1994 - 1997
University of York
BA(Hons) Combined, English -
1997 - 1999
University of Sunderland
Post Graduate, Teaching -
Project Management Group
PRINCE2 Practitioner, Programme & Project Management -
CMPS
Quality Management degree, Quality Managment -
IOSH
IOSH
Community
