 the national skills academy for rail nsar has appointed mary grant porterbrook chief executive officer as chair of its board of directors mary has 30 years experience in the uk and international transport sector including leadership roles at firstgroup plc national express plc scotrail and eurostar as the ceo of porterbrook since 2017 she has overseen a strategic transformation that has secured key shareholder investment pioneering railway innovation and sector leading global sustainability scores underpinned by an award winning people strategy mary has been a director on the nsar board since 2018 and has helped advance nsars services and expertise in support of the rail industry and beyond during her tenure she takes over the role from dyan perry obe chief executive officer at high speed 1 following a rigorous recruitment process mary grant said the national skills academy for rail plays a vitally important role inspiring and training young men and women to give them the very best start in their railway careers im honoured to take up the position of board chair to further support neil and his team to deliver the academys mission and to ensure that uk rails most exciting days are ahead of us not behind neil robertson nsar chief executive said mary is a longtime supporter of skills training and supporting the next generation into rail careers the nsar board and i are delighted that someone of marys calibre will be leading nsar through the next stages of our development and as we work to support the industry through reform and skills challenges i look forward to working with mary in her new capacity as board chair 