Keith Lawrence Ludeman (born 28 January 1950),Railway man behind 'bullet' trains - Page2
Sunday Telegraph - 3 November 2007 is a British businessman, former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

and now a Non-Executive Director.

Early life

Ludeman was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and educated at Bromley Technical High School for Boys (three years below

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

- the school is now called the

Ravens Wood School Ravens Wood School, formerly Bromley Technical High School, located in Keston, London Borough of Bromley, England, is an all-boys school. The sixth form accepts both boys and girls. In 2018 the school had 1,537 pupils. The school is a designate ...

) on ''Oakley Road'' in

Keston Keston is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was withing the historic county of Kent. It is part suburban, part rural in nature and lies on the edge of Hayes Com ...

, and then undertook a BA in Geography at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

.Railway man behind 'bullet' trains - Page1
Sunday Telegraph - 3 November 2007 After graduating in 1971 he joined Tynemouth and District Transport as a conductor (badge number AA 52142), for a summer job, but stayed for 15 months before undertaking an MSc in Transport Engineering and Planning at the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

, with a thesis entitled: ''Problems And Planning of Community Railway Stations.''

Career

Ludeman then joined the local transport authority in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

in the planning department, before switching to line management in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

where he gained his bus driver's licence (badge number N 12281). After eight years he and his wife moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

where he worked as senior transport officer, before becoming a consultant in the private sector and then returning to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

selling software for scheduling bus crews. In 1986, Ludeman became managing director of the council-owned Burnley & Pendle, but after turning a £1million loss to a £1million profit he returned to London to join

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

. Under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

's government's privatisation initiative, Ludeman became part of the management team at what became

London General London General is a bus company operating in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The company is named after the London General Omnibus Company, the principal ...

, one of 11 bus companies split from London Transport. After six years, Ludeman led a management buyout of London General for £28million. When the financial backers of London General wanted to sell, Ludeman as a result joined

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

-based Go-Ahead in 1996. He was appointed Managing Director of the group's

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

bus division in 1997, and then moved over to head the rail division in 1999, renaming the South Central franchise (previously run by Connex) back to the pre-grouping name of

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. Ludeman had been a main board advisor since 1998, and became a director in September 2004. He was appointed as Chief Executive in July 2006 following the resignation on health grounds of Chris Moyes. Keith Ludeman retired from Go-Ahead Group on 1 July 2011. Ludeman was presented with an honorary doctorate by

in July 2010. Ludeman is a fellow of the Institute of Logistics and Transport and of th
Institution of Railway Operators
He was Chairman of the

Association of Train Operating Companies The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), previously the Association of Train Operating Companies, is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2. History From 24 Oc ...

(ATOC) until 2005.Go-Ahead - Board of Directors
/ref> Ludeman was Non-Executive Director 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 leng ...

(July 2011 - July 2014). Ludeman is a Non-Executive Director of Interserve plc (joined January 2011). He was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Eversholt Rail in June 2014. Ludeman is Chairman of Bristol Water (joined July 2012).

Personal life

Married to Diane, the couple have two daughters. The family home in

Shere Shere is a village in the Guildford district of Surrey, England east south-east of Guildford and west of Dorking, centrally bypassed by the A25. It is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set in the wooded 'Vale of Holmesdale' b ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

together with a holiday home in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, were bought from the share sale proceeds of Go-Ahead's purchase of London General Omnibus. He enjoys swimming, sailing and scuba diving.

References

External links

Go-Ahead

''Guardian'' article August 1 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludeman, Keith Lawrence 1950 births Living people English chief executives Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of the University of Salford People from Bromley