60 SECONDS WITH... SAM RUSSELL

Every Month on Exchange Extra, we take sixty seconds out to get to know our team. Follow us on our journey to connect all members of our network.

This month we spoke to Head of Customer Experience Relationships & Projects, Sam Russell!

Name: Sam Russell

Job title: Head of Customer Experience Relationships & Projects

Location: Palestra House 

Hi Sam! Please sum up your role in one sentence I am responsible for leading the relationship in CED with our Trade Union colleagues and supporting TfL as they make decisions on how they want to staff our network in the future.

Tell us about your journey to ARL… My first job on this network was as a cleaner for Silverlink Metro. I used to do shifts at Gospel Oak doing turnaround cleaning for the trains returning from Barking. There were fewer of them in those days!

After university, I spent three years working in local government, including social care. I joined LOROL in 2008 as an SDM and became a CEM. After working on the Olympics, I spent several years in the Concession Management team, building our Community Engagement and Public Affairs work, before moving back into CED last year.

What do you enjoy about working at ARL? The same thing I noticed the very first day I started here almost fifteen years ago – the dedication and hard work of the teams working on the frontline every day. Their efforts have made the Overground as successful as it has been, and it is now the model that the rest of the industry wants to copy!

In your career so far, what are you most proud of? In my time as a CEM, my team focused firmly on staff engagement, and we saw improved results. I’m also pleased that our Community Engagement work went from zero to a place where we won awards for some of the projects we’ve completed.

I was proud to receive a commendation from the British Transport Police in 2015.

Tell us about your most memorable railway trip… In 2011, I was lucky enough to spend a fortnight travelling the UK and Ireland, visiting railway stations with colleagues from across the rail industry. It gave me a huge insight into how things are done elsewhere and what we could learn from each other.

If you could book a ticket to any destination, where would you go?   My family are asking this question right now. We have friends who live in Munich and are exploring the option of travelling there by High-Speed Train. German trains have family compartments, perfect for us, as I have two young children who need entertaining!

ARL is committed to the internal progression, growth and development of colleagues and over the past year, more than one third of vacancies were filled internally.