About

Tom Ford started his career training and then qualifying in the corporate department of what is now Norton Rose Fulbright, working in London and Singapore. After a few years in private practice, Ford wanted to be more involved in technology and business so he moved to work in commercial management with Messier-Dowty, an Anglo-French joint-venture, part of the aerospace division on TI group. Having got a taste for the commercial world, Ford completed an MBA at Cranfield School of Management and joined a private equity backed start-up in the telecommunications sector. ‘It proved to be a short career move!’ concedes Ford, as he then decided his legal skills were his strength so he moved back to an in-house legal career with the BOC Group, eventually moving to the healthcare division of the Linde Group. An opportunity then arose to work for Covidien, a healthcare company that was spun out of the conglomerate Tyco. Ford assumed his current role with Syniverse in 2014, leading a team of legal and other professionals that support the international business in EMEA, Indian and Asia Pacific. As the world’s most connected company, Syniverse enables mobile communications for mobile and enterprise customers through providing network connectivity, messaging services and settlement and clearing services for mobile operator networks. ‘When I joined Syniverse the company had just completed several acquisitions and there was a lack of regional leadership. We had disparate teams from three legacy companies in Luxembourg, Germany, India, Hong Kong and mainland China. Working with my new colleagues over time I created a cohesive and highly effective team’, says Ford. Ever since, having worked on digital disruption, block chain technology, machine learning, 5G networks and Internet of Things, he says ‘there is never a dull moment in the Syniverse legal department’, as he’s been required to keep abreast of technology and laws advancing continually, something which adds considerable complexity to the business. Getting ready for GDPR also proved to be a challenge for Ford, where he has led a project on preparing the company for the new regulations and working with executive sponsors, project managers, security and technology colleagues on an intensive review of the business. ‘We have laid some strong foundations to our privacy programme; I took on the role of DPO which I have now transitioned to an internal candidate. We continue to work on privacy as a priority, looking at developments such as the CCPA in California and developments in privacy legislation in key markets like Brazil and India’, says Ford.