NETWORK RAIL HIRES NEW IM DIRECTOR

Tuesday 4 Jul 2006

NETWORK RAIL HIRES NEW IM DIRECTOR

Region & Route:: National

Catherine Doran joins Network Rail this week as the leader of the company’s information management (IM) team, which plays a pivotal role in the day to day running of Britain’s railway. Catherine will be responsible for an IM budget of nearly £140m, and will be leading an 800 strong team based in 460 locations throughout the country, managing the IT needs of 17,500 users. Network Rail’s Deputy Chief Executive, Iain Coucher said: “IT is a fast moving industry and I am delighted we have attracted someone of Catherine’s calibre to lead us in this crucial area. Our IM function has set and achieved tough targets, such as completing one of the UK’s largest technology upgrades in 2005, but there are further challenges ahead.” Taking up her new post, Catherine added: “I am very pleased to be joining Network Rail at a time when the IM team is involved in such a large number of projects. We are supporting key engineering and operational innovations ensuring ideas become a working reality resulting in improved performance – one of the company’s main aims. Catherine has been instrumental in improving the performance of major organisations through the delivery of transformational IT solutions. Her previous roles include Director of Transformation and Technology at BT, European CIO for Capital One and Head of Retail Information Systems at Nat West Bank.

Notes to editors

Previous IM Director, Joe Van Valkenburgh has left Network Rail after three years with the company to return to his native USA

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