Leadership Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence in Public Transport

Mr Xavier Arrufat is CEO of Awaait Artificial Intelligence, S.L., an AI company based in Barcelona, and President of its US subsidiary, Awaait Inc. Originally trained as a civil engineer, he spent 12 years at GE Plastics and GE Healthcare, rising to EMEA Service Logistics Manager, before pivoting into artificial intelligence in 2012. His first AI project — a fare-evasion detection system for FGC in Barcelona — became the founding product of AWAAIT, which he co-founded in 2014. Beyond FGC, AWAAIT’s systems have been tested and deployed with multiple transit agencies across the USA, EU, and Middle East. Mr Xavier represents the AI Working Group of UITP.

Sandra Cerqueira is Co-CEO and Board Member of Transportes Urbanos de Braga, E.M. (TUB), the public transport company of Braga, Portugal, a position she has held since November 2017.

Prior to joining TUB’s executive leadership, Sandra served as a non-executive Board Member of BRAVAL, a multi-municipal waste recovery and treatment company in Braga, from 2015 to 2017.

Her professional career combines senior leadership in public sector with extensive experience in international business, strategic partnerships. Before moving into top management positions in the public sector, she was responsible for competitive dialogues and international tenders and supported the establishment of licensing partnerships at a multinational clinical software corporation. She also held positions at AICEP – Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency and AEP – Portuguese Business Association, where she developed significant experience working in international and multicultural environments.

Sandra holds an MBA from Porto Business School and a postgraduate degree in Health Care Management from the University of Minho. Her executive education includes leadership studies at INSEAD and sustainability studies at ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics and Management, as well as High Level Studies in Transport at ISG – Lisbon School of Economics and Management.

She holds a degree in International Relations from the University of Minho and completed her final year in the United States at the University of Central Arkansas, where she complemented her studies with coursework in Business Management and Finance.

Dr. Amit Kumar Jain is Director (Operations & Services) of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and CEO & Director of Delhi Metro International Ltd. An Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer of the year 2000, Dr. Jain has over two decades of experience in numerous key leadership positions. Prior to taking up this role, he was working as General Manager, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).

Earlier he had also worked as the Head of Operations for the Delhi Division of Railways and as Director Railway Board. Dr. Jain worked with DMRC from 2009 to 2015 as Deputy Head of Department in Operations and Maintenance as well as Principal, Training School.

He has done his Ph.D. in Urban Transportation from SPA, Delhi, M.Tech from IIT Delhi, B.E in Civil Engg from IIT Roorkee (Gold Medallist) and PGDM (Executive) in “Business Analytics” from IMT Ghaziabad.

Dr. Jain has authored books titled “ LEAD SMART in the AI ERA”, ‘Excellence in Metro Operations and Management’ – Best Practices world over , ‘Exploring Life@2050’ and ‘Intelligent Transportation Systems’. He is a regular contributor to newspaper columns and journals.

He has also developed a digital transformation strategy for Iranian Railways as a Rail Digitalisation expert with UNESCAP. A torchbearer on Digitalisation in DMRC & Railways. He is on the Government of India’s ‘National Pool of Trainers on Leadership’. He is a visiting faculty to various institutes including LBSNAA-Mussoorie , TERI, IIT Mumbai, IEG, NAIR, IRITM , SPA Delhi, and IUT Delhi.

Nishant Arya is the Vice Chairman & MD of the US $3.0bn global Indian conglomerate JBM Group and Chairman of Linde Wiemann GmbH, Germany. Today, JBM Group’s portfolio comprises 60 manufacturing plants, 10 power plants and 5 engineering & design centres. The group has a robust footprint across North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East, Africa with presence in over 37 countries. JBM Group is present across sectors such as Electric Vehicles & Buses, EV Charging Infra, EV Aggregates, Environment Management, Renewable Energy, Artificial Intelligence and Auto systems.

Nishant represents the face of today’s young and dynamic business leaders. He graduated in Business Administration from Bradford University, UK and has studied further at the London School of Economics. Mr. Arya has been instrumental in creating industry leadership for JBM Group by strategically synergizing diverse domains, such as energy storage, EV charging and solar power, towards devising an integrated zero-emission solution fostering a green footprint.

As a thought leader in the EV domain, Nishant has set up JBM E-Verse, an end-to-end e-mobility ecosystem which has been indigenously designed to foster faster deployment of electric vehicles in global markets such as Europe, Middle East, Africa, ASEAN, Asia Pacific, Americas among others.

Nishant has been consistently representing India at the UN climate change conference COP27, 28 and 29. Furthermore, he also played an active role in global forums such as Dubai World Expo, World Economic Forum – Davos, WBCSD, etc. representing Indian competencies in domains such as EV ecosystem, new energy, smart cities, etc. Recently, he was also part of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s CEO delegation to Austria and the Indo-German CEO’s forum hosted by India and attended by the Chancellor of Germany.

He also currently leads multiple portfolios in leadership capacity in several industry bodies in India and across the world. He is currently the Chair of CII Europe India Council, Chair-CII Sustainability Council – Northern Region, Chairman of the ASSOCHAM National Green Mobility Council, Executive Council Member of ACMA and Key Member of SIAM CEO Council.

Nishant has been featured in Fortune India – India’s Best CEOs 2024 recently and has also been felicitated in the prestigious Economic Times 40 Under 40. He has been recognized in the Business World 40 under 40 summit and as the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Entrepreneur Media Group, India. Under Nishant’s stewardship, JBM Group is now part of the prestigious Fortune India 500 organizations and JBM’s manufacturing plants have been felicitated by the Economic Times Most Promising Plants award. The company has also been recognized with ‘Best Innovation award’ by the World Auto Forum. JBM Auto was also awarded the Shared Mobility Solution Provider of the year by Frost & Sullivan and felicitated for Outstanding Green Energy Initiatives in Electric Vehicles by the Indian Federation of Green Energy.

Mr Singh has an expertise in project management, cybersecurity, IIoT, and integration of European Train Control Systems (ETCS). He is cuurently overseeing NCRTC Express Transit Limited (NETRA’s) role in the pioneering NCRTC-DB contract and guiding a team in establishing sustainable and safe operational procedures for the NAMO Bharat trains at NCRTC as Group General Manager – Operations.

Ms Rupa Nandy is Head of UITP (International Association of Public Transport) India and is responsible for expansion, development and management of membership, research, events and training portfolio of UITP in India since 2019. She is an MBA in Strategy and Finance from Indian School of Business and an Urban Planner from School of Planning and Architecture. She has 17+ years of experience in Urban Transportation and Infrastructure sector. At UITP she is also involved in various knowledge projects right from conceptualisation, fundraising and delivery of various research projects on public transportation such as electric buses. In past she has worked with new mobility cab players where she was leading a category driven and ridden by women. She has been involved in strategy and business development for large transportation projects and in various key transportation projects Implementation such as Automatic Vehicle Location System in all public transit buses of Delhi during her stint in DIMTS.