Blake Richmond is the Chief Executive Officer of Resonate. He joined the company in 2023 as Chief Operating Officer, bringing with him a career spanning retail banking, operational leadership and technology services, including a senior role at proptech firm Goodlord.
What is your role within Resonate?
I’m Resonate’s Chief Executive Officer and proud to lead a brilliant team with a vision to be the trusted partner modernising railway operations through purposeful innovation. That vision is realised through our mission: enabling rail operations by embedding intelligent, connected technology into the operational fabric of the railway.
Resonate’s products – including Luminate (traffic management), Initiate (access planning) and Scalable (signalling control) – are used in every Network Rail region in England, Wales and Scotland. I’m equally proud of the trust the industry places in our partnerships, and of the colleagues who help our customers deliver a railway that is safer, better and more reliable every day.
At its core, my role is about empowering our teams. This spans enabling growth through strong partnerships, shaping product direction and delivery, ensuring secure and reliable technology operations, and supporting customers through effective, expert delivery. All of this is underpinned by the essential support functions that keep the business moving forward and set it up for sustainable success.
Together, across offices, client sites and remote locations, we focus on building a supportive culture that enables everyone to deliver at their best.
How did you start at Resonate?
I joined Resonate in 2023, initially as Chief Operating Officer, because I was excited by the intersection of rail, tech and growth – and I saw an opportunity where my background could genuinely help deliver on Resonate’s ambitions. Before Resonate I spent years in customer focused industries including retail banking and later in operations and consultancy, leading teams and projects that centred on improving service delivery, building strong client relationships and driving complex transformation.
I also worked in operational leadership roles in tech-oriented services like Goodlord, where I saw first-hand how technology can create clarity and impact for customers. This blend of experience in customer insight, operational excellence and technology strategy gave me confidence that I could contribute meaningfully to Resonate’s mission to partner with the rail industry – an industry facing both significant challenges and huge opportunities for digital modernisation.
That belief in the potential of rail tech, and in the team around us, has only grown since I became CEO last year.
When did the company start trading?
Resonate’s story actually starts long before the company existed in its current form. Its origins are in British Rail Research, where some of the earliest thinking about using data and technology to improve railway operations began. When the industry moved into the private sector, that capability evolved too – and Resonate emerged with a clear purpose: taking deep rail expertise and applying modern technology to real operational challenges.
Over time, that early research-led heritage has grown into a business that supports some of the most complex parts of running the railway – from traffic and access management through to signalling control. Today, Resonate works with customers across every Network Rail region, helping them run the railway day-to-day while also supporting long-term transformation. What’s remained constant is the belief that technology only creates value when it’s grounded in operational reality. We’re not just delivering systems – we’re partnering with the industry, combining decades of rail knowledge with connected, intelligent technology to help make the railway fit for a safer and more reliable future.
What types of products and services do you offer?
At Resonate, we’re passionate about helping railways run smarter and smoother. At the heart of what we do is Luminate – our real-time digital operations and traffic management platform that gives teams a complete, predictive view of network performance and disruption so operators can act fast and with confidence.
Alongside that sits Initiate, our innovative possessions and access planning tool that is transforming how track possessions are authorised and executed, boosting safety and cutting setup times with seamless integration into signalling systems like Scalable.
Scalable itself is our flexible signalling control backbone, built to work from rural routes to complex, high-density networks and reduce lifecycle costs while supporting automation and open integration.
Together these sit within a broader suite of digital rail tools designed to bring visibility, resilience and efficiency to the modern rail network.
What can Rail learn from other industries?
From my perspective, rail can learn a huge amount from industries that have already gone through large-scale digital and cultural change. When I joined Resonate as COO, what excited me was that intersection of rail, technology and growth. In other industries, I saw how relentless focus on the customer, clear accountability and smart use of data can radically improve outcomes – even in complex, regulated environments.
Rail is no different. It’s operationally intense, value-conscious and increasingly customer-driven, especially as it moves towards a fully publicly owned model supported by private-sector innovation. Other industries show that you can balance public value with commercial discipline by designing systems around users, empowering frontline teams with better tools, and using technology to simplify decisions rather than add layers.
Rail’s opportunity now is to adopt that mindset at scale: modern platforms, collaborative partnerships and a shared focus on outcomes. That’s where rail tech can really deliver.
How can the industry tackle its skills shortage and how do you recruit, retain and train your staff?
Tackling the skills challenge requires vision and action but we see a will for both. At Resonate, we know that bringing the right people with the right skills – and potential – is critical to driving innovation. That’s why we recruit not just from rail, but from other sectors too, combining deep industry knowledge with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and help us improve how we deliver solutions.
We’re also committed to building a diverse, sustainable talent pipeline. As gold-accredited members of the 5% Club, we dedicate at least 5% of our roles to apprenticeships and ‘earn-and learn’ pathways, giving people from all backgrounds the chance to develop skills while contributing meaningfully from day one.
Retention and training go hand-in-hand with culture: we invest in mentorship, continuous learning, and empowering teams to take ownership. By nurturing curiosity, capability, and collaboration, we ensure Resonate’s people, and rail itself, can innovate and thrive.
What are some of the biggest challenges your sector currently faces?
Rail is at a pivotal moment. From our perspective at Resonate, some of the biggest challenges the sector faces are complexity, ageing infrastructure, and the need for real-time, data-driven decision-making. Networks are intricate, with multiple operators, legacy signalling and operations systems, and balancing expectations from passengers and freight customers alike. Delivering reliable, efficient services in that environment requires smarter tools and more connected thinking.
Another key challenge is balancing public value with economic realities. Rail will ultimately be fully publicly owned, yet it relies on private-sector innovation and partnerships to drive modernisation, so cost efficiency, safety, and performance have to be considered together.
Finally, the industry must navigate a rapid technology shift, integrating digital platforms without disrupting live operations, and fostering a culture that embraces change. At Resonate, we see these challenges as opportunities to bring clarity, collaboration, and innovation to every part of the network.
What are your hopes for the new regulatory bodies, such as Great British Railways?
Our hope for new bodies like Great British Railways is that they bring clarity, coordination, and a long-term vision to the network. Rail is inherently complex, with many moving parts, and the past has shown how fragmentation can make delivering reliable, customer-focused services difficult. A unified approach offers the chance to align operations, infrastructure, and investment priorities more effectively.
We, alongside government, rail bodies and regulators can champion innovation and digital adoption. Modern platforms like Luminate, Initiate, and Scalable show how technology can improve performance, safety, and passenger experience, but success depends on clear standards, consistent frameworks, and openness to new ways of working.
Finally, we hope the new bodies maintain a strong customer focus while balancing economics and public value. Rail is a public service, but it also benefits hugely from private-sector expertise. If these priorities come together, we can accelerate modernisation and deliver a railway that is reliable, resilient, and ready for the future.
What are your views on collaborative working?
Collaboration is central to how we modernise rail. The network is complex – multiple operators, legacy systems, and high passenger expectations mean no single organisation can solve these challenges alone. At Resonate, we position ourselves as partners, not just suppliers, working closely with operators, infrastructure managers, and regulators across Scotland and England to deliver solutions that genuinely improve day-to-day operations.
Our platforms – Luminate, Initiate, and Scalable – are designed to support this approach, giving teams the tools to plan, operate, and respond together in real time. But technology alone isn’t enough. We emphasise co-design, integration, and shared training, ensuring that every stakeholder benefits and that solutions are practical and sustainable.
From our experience, when teams come together around common outcomes, performance improves, risk is reduced, and innovation accelerates. In rail, collaborative working isn’t optional – it’s essential for delivering a safer, more reliable, and customer-focused network across the UK.
Do rail projects help or hinder society’s aspirations to become net-zero?
Rail has a central role to play in society’s journey to net-zero, but it’s not without challenges. On the positive side, rail is already one of the most energy-efficient ways to move people and freight, and modern digital tools like Luminate, Initiate, and Scalable can make it even more efficient by optimising traffic, reducing delays, and enabling better planning for energy use.
The challenge is that traditional projects can sometimes be slow, complex, or resource-intensive, which risks short-term environmental impacts if not carefully managed. That’s why we focus on solutions that deliver both operational improvement and environmental benefit. For example, optimised possession planning in Scotland and advanced traffic management in England reduce wasted train movements and energy use.
Ultimately, rail projects help society meet net-zero when they are designed with sustainability at the core, leveraging technology, smarter operations, and close collaboration to minimise carbon while maximising service.
RESONATE
Resonate specialise in rail and connected transport solutions and have a long heritage of applying data and technology to real operational challenges. Today, the company works with customers across every Network Rail region in England, Wales and Scotland, applying its deep industry and technical knowledge, alongside innovation, in support of the rail industry.
Want to know more about Resonate? Visit: www.resonate.tech
