• Liz Dean receives OBE after retiring from Combined Authority last year  

• 39-year career helped transform public transport in the city region 

• Mayor Steve Rotheram pays tribute to a ‘real trailblazer’ with ‘passion, integrity, and a quiet determination to make things better’ 

Merseytravel’s first female director has been awarded an OBE for services to transport in the King’s Birthday Honours List. 

Liz Dean has been included among a select group of community heroes celebrated for their exceptional achievements across the Liverpool City Region.  

The prestigious list announced today includes dedicated community champions, role models in sport, pioneers in the arts, passionate health workers, and supporters of young people. 

Liz, who retired as an executive director at the Combined Authority last year after 39 years in local government, said: 

“I am so proud to receive this honour from the King and want to thank all the great people and teams I have worked with in the Liverpool City Region and Merseytravel. 

“This award is for them as much as it is for me. There’s such great spirit in our city region and I am truly honoured and delighted at this recognition on behalf of all those amazing colleagues.” 

Liz, who is from Huyton, started her career at Liverpool City Council in 1985, working in HR, recruitment, and business management roles. 

She joined Merseytravel in 2002 and launched the trailblazing Merseylearn programme, which offered training and qualifications across the transport sector, including taxi firms, bus drivers and Merseyrail. 

In 2009 she became Merseytravel’s first woman director and later became Executive Director for Corporate Development and Delivery at the Combined Authority.  

Liz retired in 2024, holding a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support as her leaving party. 

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: 

“Liz has dedicated decades of her life to public service and always done it with passion, integrity, and a quiet determination to make things better. 

“As the first female director of Merseytravel, she was a real trailblazer – and throughout her time with the Combined Authority she was a constant source of support, advice and good sense. 

“Her work on skills and training helped give thousands of local people the chance to build a better future for themselves and their families. It’s great to see her get the recognition she deserves.”