Greg graduated from Victoria University in 1992 with a BA in Theatre and Film. During 1993 Greg trained as a Primary School Teacher and in 1994 graduated with a Diploma in Secondary teaching from Christchurch College of Education. Greg has taught in secondary schools in New Zealand and England. Much of Greg’s working life has been as an entertainer with over 30 years experience in improvisation and stand-up comedy in New Zealand and overseas. At the same time he has managed to appear on radio, television and film. In the past 10 years Greg switched from the performing arts to advertising as his “day job”, working as a creative director and copywriter. Greg looks forward to MC'ing the conference for the 13th year.

Lauren Streifer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand (PTAANZ), the peak body representing the region’s major transport agencies, operators, and suppliers. Since her appointment in 2023, she has positioned PTAANZ at the forefront of policy, collaboration, and international exchange to shape the future of sustainable transport. An experienced leader across transport, infrastructure, and international relations, Lauren has worked throughout Australia, the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. She previously led Streifer&Co, a consultancy building partnerships across government, infrastructure, technology, finance, and sport, and founded Skillsy, a nationally recognised initiative to develop the next generation of infrastructure professionals. Her earlier executive leadership roles include serving as Executive Director of Roads Australia, where she drove unprecedented growth and collaboration, and created enduring industry programs such as the RA Fellowship Program. With a foundation in diplomacy and international relations, Lauren has also served at the Australian office of APEC, the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in New Orleans, and the Australian Consulate-General in New York. Lauren is recognised for her ability to convene senior leaders, build lasting partnerships, and champion the next generation of talent. She is also obsessed with Spain.

Samantha Gain is the Kaiwhakahaere Matua, Waka-ā-atea / Group Manager of Metlink at Greater Wellington Regional Council overseeing the delivery of public transport to communities within Greater Wellington and long-term planning of public transport needs. She is also the guardian of Metlink’s assets and infrastructure, including data and technology among other responsibilities. Previously, she was the regional council’s general manager of corporate services and the first female president of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA NZ). A qualified lawyer, who was an executive at the UK Local Government Association and a senior associate at DLA Piper before joining Greater Wellington, Sam brings upbeat and positive leadership to Wellington’s well patronised public transport network.

Vida has almost 20 years of experience designing cities for people. The first part of her career was spent in Copenhagen where she worked on planning, designing and delivering urban regeneration and affordable housing projects. In 2019, Vida returned home to Wellington and now leads the City Design Team at Wellington City Council, who are implementing the Council’s strategy for a sustainable, well-designed Wellington—supporting sustainable and integrated tactical transport / urban form planning, urban greening, public space and street upgrades, neighbourhood regeneration and affordable housing initiatives. “I love cities. They are living organisms. Always changing and adapting. They are messy and emotional; there is no perfect finished state. The City Design team is privileged to be a key part of the change which Pōneke is currently in the midst of. Our City is evolving, moving from suburbs and a CBD designed to support the 1/4 acre dream to an urban hub, a dense and diverse city, nestled in the hills and surrounded by water and wind, with places, spaces and streets designed for people and nature to thrive.”

Pippa is a public transport operations specialist and has over 20 years’ experience in public transport planning and delivery. This has included being the technical lead for the PT disruptions responses to Auckland’s rapid transit City Rail Link (CRL) works between 2015 and 2021. Recently, Pippa has been leading the Strategic Assessment for Translink's South East Queensland 10 year bus plan gaining a good understanding of the public transport network challenges and opportunities. Pippa has also been the project lead or project director on a range of sustainable transport strategies and business cases for local and central government as well as infrastructure providers in New Zealand. For many of these projects she been the workshop facilitator drawing on her particular expertise in consultation and stakeholder engagement. Pippa has skills that crossover between the analytic and social spectrum and brings a unique perspective to any project she works on. With a PhD that investigated the impacts of communications technologies on our experience urban environments her academic background provides her with a variety of research and communications skills as well as an alternative but complimentary perspective on projects. Pippa is Managing Director of MRCagney, Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading sustainable transport consultancy where she leads a team of multi-disciplinary transport specialists across transport planning, urban design, economics, walking and cycling.

Lauren Streifer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand (PTAANZ), the peak body representing the region’s major transport agencies, operators, and suppliers. Since her appointment in 2023, she has positioned PTAANZ at the forefront of policy, collaboration, and international exchange to shape the future of sustainable transport. Her full bio is above.

Barry Fryer is the LNIRIM (Lin-ir-im) Programme Director for Metlink at Greater Wellington Regional Council. Barry has a master’s in technology, and more than 20 years’ experience in the rail industry, across a number of asset related roles, with strong foundations in passenger rolling stock. Barry has driven the development and recent endorsement of the approx. $10b Wellington’s 30-year rail programme business case. Barry has also been involved in the development of the multiple successful business cases including the successful funding application for the LNIRIM programme – or “the new regional hybrid trains for the Lower North Island.”

Angus Bargh is a chartered professional engineer and a transport planner with leadership roles at the engineering alliances formed following the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes, and has more recently been involved in the cyclone recovery engineering alliance on the east coast. He is the technical lead for the National Forward Works Viewer and the NZ Underground Asset Register on behalf of Digital Built Aotearoa (the platform owner). His journey with the National Forward Works Viewer started in 2012 where it was extensively used for the rebuild of Christchurch. He is passionate about open data, knowledge sharing and making the world a better place.

Jubin Gautam is a Senior Transportation Engineer at Auckland Transport with over eight years of experience in network optimisation, traffic modelling, traffic signals, and intelligent transport systems (ITS). His work focuses on improving network efficiency through a combination of physical infrastructure upgrades and technology driven solutions, including the smart traffic signal systems. Jubin serves as an engineer and programme lead for Bus Boosters and Advanced Detection technology programme. The programme improves public transport reliability while delivering measurable efficiency, safety, and emissions benefits for all modes across the network. He holds an academic background in civil and transportation engineering and is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies to build a safer, more efficient, and more reliable transport network for all users.