Gavin Thomas
Senior Consultant
Qualifications
MSc Railway Systems & Integration
Specialisms
Production leadership development
Production executive development
Quality management
Plan-led process introduction
Quality auditing
Fleet cascade
Gavin’s
bio
Background
Gavin is an accomplished rail professional with a career in UK Regional and Intercity rail spanning 23 years, nine of which as a senior leader. Gavin has filled key senior roles across several UK Train Operating Companies.
Starting as an Apprentice, he progressed through the ranks in to junior and then senior leadership roles, advancing to Head of Fleet Production. Also serving for 11 years in the Army Reserve as a Lance Corporal with 165 Port and Maritime, Royal Logistics Corps.
Expertise
Gav has held many leadership posts in rail. During his time he has been a team leader, production manager, depot manager and a head of fleet role at East Midlands Railway. He left to run his own business; Rail Fleet Services and we work together on projects as our expertise best fits. One of the areas you will likely see him is delivering our Modern Production Supervisor (CS08) course, where his vast rail experience in different grades adds such richness to the delivery.
He also is developing and will deliver the level 5 manager course, GS08 – the more senior version of the industry standard CS08. Additionally, he has been involved in fleet cascades and the challenges of managing ageing fleets in a modern world. Gavin is highly experienced rail professional we are proud is part of our team.
Outside of work
In his spare time, he likes watching sport including his local football team Alvechurch, Swansea City. Gavin is Welsh and so naturally loves Wales and rugby. He can often be found walking with his dogs, away in his camper van with the family, or clay pigeon shooting.
Gavin’s value
Gavin’s strong advantage is his ability to communicate and engage with people regardless of level in the business. He is able to flex his communication style to match the audience he is in. This enables him to relate very quickly, gain trust of your team and this in turn allows the project to progress rapidly. With that talent he is a high-driven person and is able to hold a project (and himself) to account for budget and delivery. He keeps things on track and has a fantastic work ethic.
He aligns well to our business values – honesty, integrity, trust, reliability.
“Really powerful course delivered in a way engineers understand. Has altered my approach to leadership for the better. Best course I have done in years.”
Mark Frost, Head of Fleet
EngPro
team
Howard Leach
Managing Director
Howard is an accomplished advisor, business coach and consultant, having been a Managing Partner of Danburykline, Head of Operations at Baines Simmons and Senior Production Manager at British Airways.
Sarah Robson
Standard & Assurance Manager
Sarah has had extensive experience as a senior manager in the public sector and brings an exciting dynamic to our team and the assignments we undertake.
Frank Horner
Senior Consultant
Frank is an experienced senior consultant with a background in both Rail and Aviation. He provides you with expertise in Planning, Production and QHSE, gained in both Aviation and Rail contexts.
BROCHURE
Strategic services to drive down costs through precise planning
With our cross-industry perspective we help many organisations achieve maintenance efficiency - where service delivery and costs and quality and harmoniously managed. All have high capability planning teams working strategically with effective production - we help you build that capability in performance.