Centro’s CEO Geoff Inskip has announced plans to step down at the end of the year after nearly a decade in charge of the West Midlands public transport body.
Geoff was appointed Director General of Centro in 2006 after joining from Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE). He has 30 years’ experience in the finance, rail and public transport sectors.
Geoff said: “It has been a great privilege to have led Centro for the last nine years. In particular I have thoroughly enjoyed working with colleagues and friends at local authority partners, transport operators and of course members of the Integrated Transport Authority and the Transport Delivery Committee.
“With the transition of Centro into the new Combined Authority structure the region is in a strong position to take forward its Strategic Transport Plans to deliver even more for passengers with better bus services through the new Alliance with operators, extensions to the Metro, the delivery of a Sprint network and the continued roll-out of the Swift card and smart travel information.”
Cllr Roger Lawrence, Chairman of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (WMITA), said: “On behalf of the WMITA committee, I would like to thank Geoff for his tremendous service and to wish him all the best for the future.
“He has demonstrated an impressive track record of delivering major transport regeneration and passenger service improvements across the West Midlands.
“In particular, he’s helped us to secure a number of high profile and much-needed schemes from central Government which have helped transform the public transport infrastructure across our area.”
After qualifying as a chartered accountant, Geoff began working as a management consultant before moving on to work for a merchant bank in Manchester.
In 1988 GMPTE invited him to look at the private sector options for delivering Manchester’s Metrolink tram system under a public private partnership and in 1992 Geoff was appointed director of finance at GMPTE.
In 1996 he became project director for Phase 2 of Metrolink, overseeing its delivery on time and within budget in 1999. He was appointed deputy director general of GMPTE in 1999 with special responsibility for Phase 3 of Metrolink.
