Andrew Woods

Said the following about Laurence Reeves:

“Laurence has astonished us with his ability to lead teams in challenges which are new to him and the team involved. During his apprenticeship he has become a well regarded and liked leader.

We have seen this in his leading the team organising a conference for 70 senior leaders in Siemens Mobility. After being appointed to the team as an opportunity beyond his daily work in our Digitalisation and Innovation team he quickly emerged as a leader in this team. Working in a collaborative way with other team members Laurence ensured the event was organised, extra-curricular activities for the attendees were fun and inclusive and ensured that the technical sessions worked without a hitch.

Following this Laurence has then become a key technical member of our team developing a new product using new technologies. As new members of the team joined, Laurence has engaged with them, explained the purpose and outcomes of the project and collaborated with them to ensure that we are delivering a product which delights our customers. None of this was explicitly asked for Laurence has just done this as this behaviour has been natural to him.

We received an urgent request to support the IRSE conference in Glasgow. Other team members were unavailable but Laurence took the responsibility to deliver a presentation on site, to hundreds of global railway experts in an area which was new to him with little previous presentation experience. He even cancelled a day of annual leave to help us deliver this.

Outside of work Laurence is also training to complete an Iron Man triathlon as well as his extensive work with other local community groups where he uses his compassion and teaching ability to help others improve the personal growth. Quite how he keeps his energy to do all this whilst being enaged, open and supportive to all I'm not entirely sure.

In the last year of his apprenticeship we have seen a compassionate, thoughtful, active leader emerge in Laurence, who I am sure will go on to do great things not only for the Rail Industry but also for society at large.“