Meet the Team

Rupert leads the development of Transport for the South East. He chairs the Senior Officer Group and supports the Chairman and Board.

He is also the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport at East Sussex County Council.

A former president of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, Rupert is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Mark has overall responsibility for a number of areas of our technical work programme including the development of our transport strategy and our work on freight and logistics, active travel, decarbonisation, future mobility and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

He is a Transport Planner with 35 years’ experience in the formulation of transport policy and strategy and scheme development and delivery.

Sarah manages the development of our analytical framework which will contain the data analysis, modelling and appraisal tools that will support scheme business cases and the implementation of our Strategic Investment Plan.

Sarah joined TfSE in November 2018 and previously managed our programme of multi-modal area studies.

She has over 30 years of local government experience, including the development and delivery of major highways schemes.

Keir leads on Programme and Policy at TfSE and is responsible for ensuring that our programme of work is delivered successfully. Keir will continue to ensure that TfSE has the right role and organisational structure in place to deliver as much value as possible for our member local authorities, partners, and the Department for Transport. As part of this, his team manages TfSE’s governance, finance, member engagement, communications, and Centre of Excellence.

Keir joins TfSE on secondment from the Department for Transport, where he led the Government’s policy for STBs

As Analysis Manager, Joshua is responsible for developing and managing our analytical framework. His work provides crucial data-driven evidence to support the successful delivery of our transport strategy, strategic investment plan, and various aspects of our technical programmes.

Additionally, Joshua plays a pivotal role in assisting local transport authorities with the use of data and modelling tools, ensuring their strategies are well-informed and effective.

Joshua also collaborates closely with Transport for the North and liaises with the Department for Transport, aligning our methods with national transport policies and leading the development of a common analytical framework across Subnational Transport Bodies.

Mat is responsible for leading the development and delivery of schemes set out in our Strategic Investment Plan. He works closely with TfSE’s partners and key stakeholders, including local transport authorities, Network Rail and National Highways and the Department for Transport.

Mat joined the team in December 2022, he was originally the asset management consultant for East Sussex County Council.

Emily manages the TfSE Centre of Excellence, which supports local authorities in improving their overall capability and capacity.

The bespoke content that is created for the Centre of Excellence is specifically developed to tackle important skills such as developing business cases, developing and implementing local transport plans, reducing carbon, and maintaining a pipeline of schemes.

Emily works closely with local transport authorities to ensure that the needs and requirements of the South East are reflected.

Kate is the Transport Strategy Manager with responsibility for freight and rail at TfSE. She leads the delivery of several projects as part of our technical work programme including the TfSE Lorry Parking Study published in February 2024, and the establishment and ongoing management of the Wider South East Freight Forum in conjunction with Transport East and England’s Economic Heartland. Kate is also TfSE’s technical lead in the Wider South East Rail Partnership. She manages various studies currently being undertaken about e.g. intermodal rail freight, the current and future provision of warehousing, and the potential for using waterborne freight in the TfSE area.

Kate previously worked for Transport for London delivering the first Local Implementation Plans in London and as a senior business planner; and at the University of Brighton as a research project manager.

James joined Transport for the South East in November 2024 and oversees the day-to-day development and implementation of our communications and public engagement strategy, working closely with Jaimie and Eleanor.

James has worked in marketing and communications for almost 25 years, including twenty years of public sector experience in roles with East Sussex County Council, the Home Office and Sussex Police.

James Gleave has over 20 years of experience in transport planning and transport policy development. In addition to working on projects ranging from building new railway lines to installing zebra crossings outside of schools, he is also a Board Member of the Transport Planning Society.

He is leading our work on the refresh of our Transport Strategy. He is also engaging with other Strategic Transport Bodies in the development of their Transport Strategies.

Lewis Milligan is the Project Manager for TfSE’s consultancy framework and supports the analysis team to deliver the Strategic Investment Plan and is currently project managing on early-stage scheme development support for local transport authorities.

Lewis joined the team in August 2023 from his previous role at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust as business planning administrator.

Jaimie McSorley joined Transport for the South East in December 2023 from Brighton & Hove City Council.

Jaimie is part of our programme team and her work includes managing and developing our stakeholder relationships, alongside the design and delivery of our ongoing programme of engagement and consultation activities in support of our technical work.

Benn supported the the work on our Transport Strategy, Future Mobility Strategy and Freight Strategy and is currently leading on the development of TfSE’s regional Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy.

He previously worked at Highways England supporting major investment schemes to improve the road network

Peter works on the delivery of the TfSE Centre of Excellence, ensuring support is delivered on time and meets the requirements of the users.

Peter also supports the wider TfSE work, coordinating governance meetings and general support across all workstreams.

Eleanor joined Transport for the South East in July 2025 from the charitable sector, where she worked in project delivery and communications.

Eleanor is part of our programme team and her work includes supporting the day-to-day implementation of our communications strategy.