The Foundation for Integrated Transport is pleased to announce the appointment of five new trustees, Mat Bonomi, Mark Frost, Lisa Hopkinson, Rebecca Lush and Alex Norton to its board. These appointments bring diverse skills and experience to strengthen the Foundation’s unique role in supporting and delivering solutions for sustainable transport.
“These appointments not only bring excellent people onto our board but also improve its gender, age and geographical balance.”
Alastair Hanton, FIT Secretary
Mat Bonomi has built a 10 plus year career in a variety of roles in both Australia and the United Kingdom across the public, private and charity sector with a focus on ‘rebalancing’ our car centric places and lifestyles. With formal education in both transport planning and economics, Mat is an optimistic urbanist with a passion for how transport can impact and increase the health and happiness of our cities. He is currently Head of Transport & Access at the Royal Parks.
Mat said: “I am thrilled to be invited to join the Foundation of Integrated Transport as a trustee and look forward to playing a role in creating a more equitable and prosperous transport system for all.”
Mark Frost is an experienced local government professional to assistant director level, now Director of Fern Consulting Services providing support to clients on strategic transport planning; regeneration and placemaking; environmental strategy; traffic and parking policy; supporting regional networks and public sector staff capacity building. Mark is a Chartered Transport Planning Professional (CTPP), board member of the Transport Planning Society, Vice President of the Local Government Technical Advisors Group and a Future London Leaders graduate, with a wider interest in effective altruism and charity governance.
Mark said: “I’m delighted to have been accepted onto the board of trustees at FIT. After over a decade and half working at a senior level in local government, I’m keen to start using the understanding and experience I have gained in that time to support individuals and organisations working to develop a more sustainable transport network – as well as one that also helps address, rather than entrench, inequality and social exclusion.”
Lisa Hopkinson is an environmental scientist by training with a keen professional and personal interest in sustainable transport. She has wide-ranging experience having worked for the private sector, charities, a thinktank, and a university. She is currently self-employed as a freelance researcher and is an Associate of Transport for Quality of Life. She has also been an active volunteer over the last 30 years with numerous grassroots organisations and national NGOs, promoting sustainable travel and opposing car-based developments and road building.
Lisa said: “I think that FIT plays a unique and valuable role supporting grassroots campaigns and campaigners. I am delighted to become a trustee and contribute to their vision of a world where people can live decently without a car.”
Rebecca Lush is a life-long environmental campaigner, specialising in transport activism. She played a leading part in many of the prominent campaigns against roadbuilding in the 1990s, including the Twyford Down and Newbury Bypass protests. She attended the first UN COP climate talks in Berlin in 1995; established Road Block in 2005, an alliance of community groups against the new roads programme; and became the first Roads and Climate Campaigner for Campaign for Better Transport in 2007. She had a brief interlude from 2012, working for Lush UK managing their charitable giving, assessing and approving donations. She has now returned to her original passion, becoming the Local Campaigns Support Officer for the newly formed Transport Action Network in 2020.
Rebecca said: “I am honoured to become a Trustee for the Foundation for Integrated Transport. I would like to draw upon my history of transport campaigning and grant making to support the important work of the Foundation. As well as funding high quality research, I hope to help the Foundation to support the many hard working community groups who are campaigning to improve their local transport and environment. They are needed now more than ever.”
Alex Norton is an entrepreneurial IT professional with over 25 years of experience predominantly within finance and payments sector. A nephew of Simon Norton, he is keen to continue the work started by his uncle in promoting and campaigning for better sustainable transport and the reduction of transport poverty.
Alex said: “I am thrilled to become a trustee for FIT and help deliver my uncle’s vision.”