Iain Michael Coucher (born 22 August 1961) is the serving Chief Executive of the

Atomic Weapons Establishment The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...

. He has worked as a consultant in the

railway industry Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

and held a number of management posts, most notably serving as the Chief Executive of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

from 2007 to 2010.

Early life

Coucher was born on 22 August 1961 in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

, Hertfordshire. He was brought up in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, where his father, Brian, worked for the electricity generating board. He originally wanted to be a pilot in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. He was educated at Ashville College, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

boarding school in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa ...

, North Yorkshire. He boarded in Windermere House – part of Mallinson. Coucher was a good tennis player and represented the school tennis team. After leaving Ashville in 1979, he attended

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

where he studied

Aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

. He graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc). Later he completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) at Henley Management College (now called

Henley Business School Henley Business School is a business school which now forms part of the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College (formerly the Administrative Staff College) with the existing business ...

and part of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

Career

He started his working life as an air-to-ground missile designer for Hunting Engineering from 1982 (since 2001 known as INSYS), before moving into IT services with the American consultancy group EDSPeddling the railways
Interview:Andrew Davidson ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' 22 July 2007 in 1985 which led to working on the Oyster card. In 1999 he formed a transport consultancy, Coucher Pender, in partnership with a colleague Victoria Pender. Through the consultancy, they provided freelance management services to

Tube Lines Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP' (an amalgamation of infrastructure and company), is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, ci ...

, one of the infrastructure maintenance companies under the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

public-private partnership in which the company was responsible for modernizing three tube lines, with Coucher serving as Tube Lines' Chief Executive from 1999 to 2001. Coucher Pender provided consultancy for the creation of the railway infrastructure company

following the collapse of

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

in 2002. Coucher was made Deputy Chief Executive of Network Rail in 2002, stepping up to the role of Chief Executive in July 2007 following the retirement of Chief Executive

John Armitt Sir John Alexander Armitt (born 2 February 1946) is an English civil engineer, and current chairman of the UK's National Infrastructure Commission. From 2007 Armitt was chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body which successfully bu ...

. In 2009, Network Rail paid Coucher an annual salary of £613,000. Coucher announced on 17 June 2010 that he would step down as Chief Executive of Network Rail stating that this was for personal reasons. He remained in situ while his successor was sought. Coucher officially left Network Rail on 29 October 2010, accepting a

payment A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the ...

from the company of £1.6 million. Coucher's successor, David Higgins, started on 1 February 2011. Coucher was the subject of controversy regarding his management techniques following allegations in the media by the

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, Derby, Dublin, ...

about bullying of Network Rail staff and financial impropriety involving Victoria Pender. An internal examination in 2010 by Network Rail cleared Coucher of any wrongdoing. An independent enquiry headed by Anthony White QC in 2011 further examined the claims, but also exonerated Coucher. In January 2016, Coucher became Chief Executive of

. In May 2022 he was appointed chairman of

Ofwat The Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, is the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. Ofwat's main statutory duties include protecting the interests of consumers, secu ...

.Former Network Rail boss Iain Coucher appointed to lead water regular Ofwat
''

New Civil Engineer ''New Civil Engineer'' is the monthly magazine for members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the UK chartered body that oversees the practice of civil engineering in the UK. First published in May 1972, it is today published by Metropoli ...

'' 13 May 2022

Personal life

Iainland - along Rubha na Cille - geograph

Married with a son (born February 1995) and daughter (born June 1998), Coucher lives in

Argyll & Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

, Scotland and lists his car as an

Aston Martin DB9 The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin. Available both in coupé and a convertible bodystyles, the latter being known as the Volante, the DB9 was the successor to the DB7. It was first shown at the 2003 Frankfurt ...

. He married Tanya Nightingale in July 1993 in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

. He was previously married. He enjoys cycling and birdwatching and owns a country house and 173-acre estate by Loch Sween on the

Sound of Jura The Sound of Jura () is a strait in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is one of the several Sounds of Scotland. It is to the east of the island of Jura and to the west of Knapdale, part of a peninsula of the Scottish mainland. The Crinan Canal' ...

in Scotland which he has named "Iainland".

References

Other sources

Iain Coucher new chief at Network Rail

''Management Today'' August 2009

'' July 2009] {{DEFAULTSORT:Coucher, Iain 1961 births British people in rail transport People educated at Ashville College Living people People from Doncaster English chief executives Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Reading Knapdale