John Nelson – BA (Econ) Hons
Chairman
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Following a career at the top of British Rail, John founded First Class Partnerships and has been its Chairman since the year 2000. For five years prior to 1997 he was Chief Executive of BR's largest business, Network South East, centred on London, and between 1987 and 1992 headed up the Eastern Region, then a quarter of Britain's rail network.
This grounding in all commercial, operating and technical aspects of running railways enabled John to create and develop the multi-faceted railway management consultancy that First Class Partnerships has become. It also enabled him to pursue a successful career in a number of other fields as director of several rail companies, enhancing his previous experience with an understanding of the contemporary privatised environment.
From 1998 to 2006 he was a director of Laing Railways, owners of the Chiltern franchise, the first to be re-let; and between 2003 and 2006 fulfilled a similar role on the Board of South Eastern Trains (Holdings), set up following the termination of the Connex franchise and before it was re-let to Govia. He is with Mike Jones a shareholding Director of Hull Trains, a Company established in 1999 to exploit “open access” opportunities for express trains to London and of Wrexham & Shropshire, set up in 2006 to do the same there. He is also a Director of Renaissance Trains, a promotional vehicle for new rail ventures.
John, who places strategic counsel at the top of his list of capabilities, is a highly successful and influential consultant, possessing a unique understanding of the modern railway context, its structure and contractual matrix. He specialises in the development of strategy, interface management and managing change in railways, especially in commercial environments. He has worked as an adviser to several foreign railway administrations as well as to the UK's key authorities and companies. He leads for FCP in its role as Operator of Last Resort for the Department for Transport.
