New OneID CEO Paula Sussex sees models for UK digital ID on the continent

UK-based identity verification service provider OneID has appointed Paula Sussex to its chief executive officer role.

Even before joining the firm, she was already convinced of the lack of seamless identity verification in the digital infrastructure of the UK by her experience in the public sector. OneID’s ability to solve this issue was the main factor behind her joining them, according to a company announcement.

“Verifying our online identities is now coming of age and I passionately believe that efficient and seamless identity verification is a big missing part of the UK’s digital infrastructure,” says Sussex.

In a public message on her appointment, Sussex points to the successes of digital identities verified by banks, such as Sweden and Norway’s BankIDs and Belgium’s itsme, as models the UK can emulate.

Last month, OneID partnered with retail and commercial bank NatWest to introduce a Customer Attribute Sharing service that comes in an embedded digital ID format. This service allows businesses to securely onboard customers and get their consent digitally.

Sussex qualified as a barrister before entering the tech world, where she has a professional background in technology services businesses and consulting.

Most recently, Sussex was CEO of the Student Loans Company, a UK government-owned company with approximately 6 million customers. Before that, she was a senior vice president and a member of the UK board at CGI. Her responsibilities included building new markets in the health and public sector. She was also responsible for end-to-end profit and loss for a business unit in this role. She also has served as the CEO of Atos Consulting and worked as a Managing Consultant at KPMG.

OneID says Paula Sussex is now tasked with growing the company further and will replace Martin Wilson as the company’s leader. Martin oversaw OneID’s early stages of growth and will continue to be a non-executive director on the OneID board.

“As an investor in the business, Martin originally joined the Board as a non-executive director before stepping into the CEO position to lead it through its formative years,” says Richard Little, chairman of OneID.

The company has recently experienced growth and signed agreements with DocuSign, JCB Finance and Intesi, which enables Adobe Acrobat Sign.

Commenting on her appointment, Sussex says: “I look forward to working with the excellent OneID team and board to continue its expansion and enable businesses and consumers to operate online safely and securely.”

Article Topics

appointments  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  identity verification  |  OneID  |  UK