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 chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...

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 southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

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

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

- 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 Single-sex school, all-boys school. The sixth form accepts both boys and girls. In 2018 the school had 1,537 pupils. The sch ...

) 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 within 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 public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

.Railway man behind 'bullet' trains - Page1
Sunday Telegraph - 3 November 2007 After graduating in 1971 he joined

Tynemouth and District Transport Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

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 The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

, 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 ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

in the planning department, before switching to line management in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

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)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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 operation ...

. Under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

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

London General London General Transport Services Limited, trading as Go-Ahead London, is a bus company operating in Greater London. The London General brand is a subsidiary of Go-Ahead London and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The ...

, 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, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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. 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 Chris Moyes OBE (26 July 1949 – 12 September 2006) was one of the founders of Go-Ahead Group, one of the United Kingdom's largest transport businesses. Career Born in Shropshire and educated at Birkenhead School and Liverpool University, Chris ...

. 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 Limited (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. The RDG is a ...

(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 railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

(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. Located on the River Tillingbourne it is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

together with a holiday home in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) 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 Internatio ...

, 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