Julie McComasky was appointed HR director at Abellio ScotRail when Abellio won the contract to operate ScotRail, the national railway of Scotland. The franchise started on 1 April 2015.
At ScotRail she was appointed head of learning and development in 2006 and achievements included the award-winning Earn as You Learn and modern apprenticeship in customer service programmes.
McComasky sits on the Scottish Advisory Board of People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism, and is a member of the CIPD. She is a member of the Women 1st Top 100 network and a business fellow of Strathclyde University.
Abellio was founded by NS as NedRailways in 2001 to take advantage of the liberalisation of the European transport sector. NedRailways was rebranded to Abellio in 2009 after the purchase of Abellio Deutschland. This acquisition also meant the expansion from an owning group with two UK rail franchises to a European public transport company. In the same year, first steps into the London bus market were made by buying London Bus from National Express.
The first solo UK rail franchise was won in 2012 by winning Abellio Greater Anglia.
Recommended reading
Julie McComasky wins HR Network Scotland award
Careers website
