Tony Ball is chief executive of Entrust, the identity and security company that bought the identity verification firm Onfido in 2024. He took the top job on March 31, 2026, after nearly a decade at the company and a career that began when he left school early.
A Small Town in the South of England
He grew up in a small town in the south of England, in a family with plenty of love and support. He left school as soon as he could, sure it was not for him. At Schlumberger, where he started, his bosses urged him to go back to studying and paid for it. He studied finance and business at Bournemouth University and later completed the IMD executive leadership programme.
Schlumberger, Gemalto and HID
He spent more than 20 years in leadership roles around the world with Schlumberger's smart card business and its successor Gemalto, where he became senior vice president for Northern Europe. He then spent about nine years at HID Global, finally as president of identity and access management.
Rising Through Entrust
He joined Entrust Datacard in 2016 as senior vice president and general manager of identity and access management. "First, make it successful, then you can scale it out," he said on the Mobile First podcast in 2018, adding that what he loves most is time with smart people working on cool things. He became president of the payments and identity business, and when Entrust completed its Onfido purchase in April 2024, the target brought more than $140 million of annual revenue and over 1,200 customers. Entrust now has more than $1 billion of revenue.
He left school because he thought it had nothing for him. An employer sent him back, and he now runs a company whose business is proving who people are.
