Transdev has announced that Julia Thomas has been named president of business solutions for the North American Division. She starts immediately.
Thomas is an accomplished senior executive who has served in a variety of leadership roles in public transportation as well as containerized freight shipping. She now leads Transdev’s B2B businesses in North America, including Compass Transportation, which transports 6,000 employees every weekday from San Francisco to Silicon Valley. Thomas will also oversee Golden Touch Transportation in New York, which manages airport transfers for 1.4 million airline crew members and 3.5 million airline employees per year.
Previously, she served for three years as managing director of Transdev’s Green Tomato Cars, a well-respected private hire company in London with a unique environmentally-friendly brand position. She led a significant turnaround of the business, improving profitability and increasing revenues, despite intense competition from Uber.
“For us, of course, we are excited for Julia to assume this role. We in the company have witnessed her success and we are confident she will bring that same success and leadership to North America,” said Yann Leriche, CEO of Transdev North America.
Thomas has held a variety of senior positions in Transdev’s U.K. businesses, which include a portfolio of light-rail, bus and taxi operations. She was chief operating officer of the company’s operations in the U.K. from 2012 to 2015, and was director of light rail and corporate services for five years prior to that. Under her leadership, the Nottingham light rail operation achieved 99.5 percent on-time performance and strong financial and operational results.
Earlier in her career, she held a series of commercial and operational roles in the container shipping industry from 1986 to 2006. She was General Manager for the trade routes between Europe and Asia for P&O Nedlloyd, responsible for $2 billion in revenue and led the development and implementation of a business contribution optimization model that resulted in a significant profitability improvement. With the same company, she led the UK logistics unit over several years and managed and oversaw operations for multiple other trade lanes in increasingly responsible leadership roles.
Her degrees include a Masters in Transport Planning and Management from the University of Westminster, and an undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Portsmouth. She has pursued advanced studies in logistics and supply chain design, management development and media training.