UITP Awards 2026

Mr Adi Lau joined MTR Corporation Limited (“MTRCL”) in 1982. He has been the Managing Director –Mainland China Business and Global Operations Standards since 1 July 2021 and a Member of the Executive Directorate since May 2016.

Mr Lau is responsible for managing and overseeing MTRCL’s rail and property businesses in Mainland China, and global railway operations standards to ensure the sharing of best practices across MTRCL’s railway operations in different cities. He is also responsible for MTRCL’s Macao business portfolio.

Mr Lau is the president of China Hong Kong Railway Institution, the chairman of UITP Metropolitan Railways Committee.

Anan Alamri currently heads the Sustainable Mobility team in the Integrated Transport Centre with 14 years of experience working within the Public Transport sector in Abu Dhabi. Anan has a Bachelor in marketing management and obtained her Masters in Transportation Management. In her role, Anan is actively involved in key mobility projects such as the Abu Dhabi Link on-demand bus service, and seamlessly integrating micro-mobility realms. Her focus on sustainability extends to creating public awareness campaigns, urging residents to embrace alternative mobility options. With a strategic mindset and marketing insight, Anan is reshaping Abu Dhabi’s transportation culture by promoting sustainable practices and embracing micro-mobility solutions. Her vision and leadership continue to drive the city towards a more efficient, environmentally friendly, and inclusive future.

Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos por la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) y Master of Science en Planificación Urbana y Regional por el Technion: Instituto de Tecnología de Israel.

Durante más de 28 años trabajó en el Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (autoridad de transporte público de la Comunidad de Madrid) desarrollando trabajos relativos a Movilidad; Planificación de los diferentes modos transporte, Estudios multimodales del sistema de transporte público; Participación en diferentes proyectos europeos; Planes de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible (PMUS) y Planes de Transporte al Trabajo (PTT); etc.

Desde octubre de 2014 trabaja como consultor experto en transporte público y movilidad sostenible, colaborando con el Banco Mundial, Banco Europeo de Inversiones-Jaspers, la UITP y diferentes administraciones en España.

Es ponente en múltiples seminarios, congresos, conferencias a lo largo de diferentes países del mundo. Es profesor ad honorem en la UPM y en masters de transportes.

Directora de Planeamiento Estratégico de Emova Presidenta de la División América Latina de UITP (Unión Internacional de Transporte Público).

Coordinadora del Comité de Planificación de Alamys (Asociación Latinoamericana de Metros y Subterráneos).

Miembro del Steering Committee de COMET (Community of Metros Benchmarking Group) coordinado por el Railway Technology Strategy Centre (RTSC), Imperial College de Londres.

Guido Bruggeman is an urban transport expert with 40 years of experience. After he graduated in 1975 as a transport engineer at the Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, he started his career at the Municipal Transport Company in Amsterdam.

In 2000, he joined the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London as an Urban Transport Specialist and was involved in many transport projects in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since 2007 he is acting as an independent consultant and advising international clients on the planning, organization, regulation and operation of urban transport. Among others, Guido acts as project advisor for the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. He is also a Lead Trainer at the UITP Academy. As an international expert he has worked in over 30 countries worldwide.

Experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the utilities industry. Skilled in Negotiation, Railway Signalling and automation, Engineering, Strategic Planning, and Project Engineering. Ignasi Oliver joined TMB in 1988 in Metro de Barcelona as engineer of Remote Control Systems department. After that he has been manager of several departments of maintenance and of projects, leading teams +200 people. He has been in charge of all kind of installations: signalling, remote control, communications, ticketing, tracks and catenary, electrical and electromechanical installations. He has been involved in the major changes in the metro network, introducing automation, adapting installations, procedures and organisational charts to the needs of the metro operation and driverless lines. His main focus has been to provide the best availability to get the best metro service with limited costs. To do that he introduced technical improvements, RAMS, obsolescence and assets management, monitoring systems and the team of engineers to take benefit of it, and also the change of processes and culture to get a true transformation by mean of the digitalisation. Nowadays he is the Director of Project Area of Metro in charge of the planning and management and execution of all areas of Metro: Infrastructure, tracks, energy, signalling, installations and rolling stock. Strong professional graduated from La Salle BCN.

Spanish 

Ignacio tiene un MBA ejecutivo en el IESE Business School, Madrid y estudió inicialmente como ingeniero civil, Universidad Técnica de Cataluña, Barcelona. Ignacio cuenta con una amplia experiencia profesional en RENFE (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de España) actuando como Director de la Oficina de Renfe en Bruselas desde marzo de 2020. Ha trabajado en diversas funciones como director internacional de proyectos especiales en estrategia y desarrollo para RENFE desde 2017. Además, trabajó originalmente en los Ferrocarriles Nacionales Españoles entre 1981 y 1997 en la Dirección de Planificación y Control de Gestión, operaciones, estudios técnicos y departamentos comerciales en los países de habla hispana.

También ha trabajado con la Unión Internacional de Ferrocarriles (UIC) durante más de 10 años como director del Departamento de Pasajeros, Alta Velocidad y Estaciones, así como Coordinador de la Región de América Latina.

Ignacio ha publicado regularmente numerosos artículos, informes y libros relacionados con el ferrocarril y ha asesorado a diversas organizaciones gubernamentales de todo el mundo. Es formador y conferenciante habitual para organizaciones de formación y diversas universidades de China, Corea y España.

English 

Ignacio has an executive MBA at IESE Business School, Madrid and studied initially as a civil engineer, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona. Ignacio has vast professional experience with the RENFE (Spanish National Railways) acting as Director of the Renfe Office in Brussels since March 2020. He has worked in various roles such as international director for special projects in strategy and development for RENFE since 2017. On top of that, he originally worked with the Spanish National Railways between 1981 and 1997 in the Planning and Management Controlling Direction, operations, technical studies as well as commercial departments across Spanish speaking countries.

He has also worked with the International Union of Railways (UIC) for more than 10 years as director of the Passenger, High Speed and Stations Department, as well as Coordinator of Latin America Region.

On a regular basis Ignacio has published numerous articles , reports and books related to railways and has advised various governmental organisations across the globe. He is a regular trainer and lecturer for training organisations and various universities in China, Korea and Spain.

Mr Ismael Uruen-Pueyo is the Economic and Financial Director of TMB-Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona group (Transports de Barcelona, SA -the bus company- and Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona, SA-the metro company-), Spain. TMB has a budget of Euro 1.000 million, a 2.400 million balance sheet. Moving 650 million users a year.

He has a degree in Economics & Business at Universitat de Barcelona, a master in Finance at ESADE Business School Barcelona and a General Management Programme at IESE Business School Barcelona, Spain.

Ismael has over 36 years of experience in the field of Economy & Finance, in different sectors: 21 years in public transport, 2 years in venture capital, 12 years in corporate & international banking, 1 year in international marketing, 1 year in financial auditing and 1 year teaching econometric models at Universidad de Barcelona.

He has participated in many different financial transactions amounting more than euros 1,500 million, as well as in some venture capital transactions seeking innovation companies.

Ismael has more than 17 years working in national & international benchmarking clubs for public transport operators. He has been involved with UITP and TSC-Imperial College London, since 2004 within different economic & finance committees.

He is the chairperson at UITP Transport Economics& Finance Committee since June 2023.

He is the chairperson at ATUC Economic & Finance Commission (the Spanish Public Transport Operators Association), since October 2019.

He has led some workshops on Risk Management, Value of Data, Scaling bus electrification, Cost effectiveness & total cost ownership on buses technology election, value for money, affordable fares, sustainable finance and value & impact of the public transport in the territory and society.

Khaled Shammout is a transit professional with more than 28 years of experience in public transit planning, advanced data collection and analysis, strategic planning, transit operations, ITS technology, and transit facilities design and construction.  Mr. Shammout has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors; he also brings international experience.

Mr. Shammout currently serves as the Chief Strategic Planning, Development, and Innovation Officer at the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (Cincinnati, Ohio).  Mr. Shammout attended The Ohio State University where he earned BS in Architecture, a Master’s in City Planning, and a Master’s in Transportation Engineering.

Mr. Shammout has published a recent book: “The Implosion of Public Transit and the Case for an Infinite Game”.

Dr. Luisiana Paganelli is the Principal Transport Planner at the City of Ballarat, leading the development and implementation of the city’s strategic transport planning program. She is a senior urban planner and architect from Curitiba, Brazil, with more than twenty years of experience in executive, technical and research roles, mainly as a local government official, and has completed a PhD in Transport Planning at RMIT University. She has also worked as the City of Kingston’s Sustainable Transport Officer and has performed different technical and executive roles for 15 years at the Institute for Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba (IPPUC).

Margaret is the Chief Spokesperson for the SMRT group. She drives its external and internal communication strategies, executing these across multiple channels targeting diverse stakeholder groups.

She has over 20 years of experience in the areas of public relations and marketing communications, a large part of which was spent in the tourism and hospitality sector where she held positions in media communications, integrated marketing communications, stakeholder relations, and service quality. While with the tourism board, Margaret also led the crisis communications efforts during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and drove initiatives to reach out to the global tourism sector, including the post-SARS recovery programmes.

Margaret holds a distinction in Master of Business (International Marketing) from the Curtin University of Technology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the National University of Singapore.

Montassar Draief is a mobility expert with over 20 years of international experience in the planning, design, and operation of smart transport systems. He has led major tramway, metro, rail, and airport projects for SYSTRA, RATP Dev, and Paris Airports, and now focuses on smart and sustainable mobility.

As an independent consultant based in Dubai, he advises public authorities and operators across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Recent projects include the mobility plans of AlUla and NEOM, the transformation of pilgrims’ transport in Makkah, and Tunisia’s national e-mobility strategy.

He also serves as a senior strategic advisor to start-ups specializing in artificial intelligence for mobility and infrastructure. Montassar holds an MBA from École des Ponts, Paris, and a certificate in Digital Transformation from Imperial College London.

• Muna Al Osaimi is the Director of the Transportation Strategic Planning Department within Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). She is also a member in the Dubai Urban Planning coordination committee.
• Muna has over (16) years of experience in Strategy, Transportation Planning, policies, and Design.
• Currently, she is leading Transportation Strategic Planning team, relentlessly developing and enhancing Dubai Transportation plan, and RTA’s Strategic Plan.

Petra Mollet is Vice President of Strategic and International Programs for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). She leads APTA’s strategic and business planning, coordinates the association’s international outreach. supports the Transit Board Members Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Council.

In a transportation career spanning over three decades, she is driven by a passion for realizing the potential of sustainable mobility to improve the quality of life of individuals and communities.

Before she joined APTA in 2008, Petra was director of corporate development and the corporate office at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) based in Brussels, Belgium. She led UITP’s worldwide expansion and its external relations, as well as supporting the launch of UITP’s Sustainable Development Program in 2001.

Petra earlier was executive director of POLIS, an association of European local and regional transportation authorities collaborating on the application of Intelligent Transportation Systems and mobility integration.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia, with a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs, and holds an executive master of natural resources from Virginia Tech.

Richele Cabral is the Director of Urban Mobility at Semove – Federation of Mobility Companies of the State of Rio de Janeiro. She holds a degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, a Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Coppe/UFRJ, and an MBA in Business Management with an emphasis on Transportation from Fundação Dom Cabral. She works on urban mobility projects, planning, and operation of transportation systems. She participated in the modeling of the electronic ticketing project for the State of Rio de Janeiro, implemented the intercity and municipal single ticket, and contributed to the design of the transportation system for the city of Rio de Janeiro for the World Cup and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She is currently a member of the International Bus Commission of UITP – International Union of Public Transport and vice president of UITP Latin America.

Graduating university as a civil engineer, Yo joined RATP in 1980. He began in the marketing team and was duly put in charge of Passenger Information. Over the ensuing years, Yo worked to build up RATP’s Design Management function – progressively integrating all the creative disciplines related to transport environment design – product design, information design, architecture, arts and culture management – becoming Head of Design Projects Management in 2011. Yo retired from RATP in December 2023 after 35 years with the company.

Yo’s department steered many of RATP’s infrastructure investment projects, coordinates policies and ensures the inclusion of Design Quality in RATP Group’s corporate strategy.

He serves on the boards of several organizations focussed on design promotion and design education in France and is a former Chair of the UITP Design & Culture Committee.