My name is Mark Sherwood-Edwards, and I am the founder of This is DPO.  I set up This is DPO after talking to businesses that were looking for a DPO service that combined GDPR expertise with a business background.  They wanted technical expertise, but not on its own: they wanted it married to business experience.  They were also looking for an ability to talk credibly to the Board (and the ICO where required), and enough confidence to ask difficult questions.  This is what This is DPO provides: expertise, experience, independence and credibility.  

Background

I started off in advertising, became a lawyer in private practice, then moved in-house (the bulk of my legal experience), and ever since have switched periodically between being a lawyer and a non-lawyer.  I have worked in advertising, technology, outsourcing and financial services, dealing with large contracts, complex legal issues, technology, intellectual property and, increasingly in the last twenty years, data protection.