Leadership spotlight: Director of Legal: Corporate, Network & IT

In this series we hear from the Senior Leadership Team at Three about the latest activity across the company and a little about the people behind the projects.

Vital stats

• Name: Yohannah Walford Blythe
• Job title:             Director of Legal: Corporate, Network & IT
• Function:             Legal, Government & Regulatory Affairs (LGRA)
• Tenure: 8 and a half years

Tell us a bit about your background

I trained at a City of London law firm specialising in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. I spent 10 years doing this before deciding to try something a bit different as a lawyer. I became an in-house lawyer for a financial software company in London for two years and then joined Three in 2013. I didn’t know anything about the telecoms sector when I joined, so the first few months were a massive learning curve.

I love variety at work and I am most happy when applying my skills and experience to all sorts of projects.

In a nutshell, describe your role and how it supports Three’s objectives

My team provides commercial legal advice and solutions to execute projects seamlessly and look after our business. We’re here to enable Three to grow by:

• Supporting the design, build and operation of Three’s end-to-end telecommunications infrastructure;
• Supporting procurement for all corporate requirements and Retail stores;
• Delivering our financial growth strategy through the execution of revenue-generating business initiatives and partnering with our Finance, Wholesale & New Segments teams; and
• Supporting our property, employment and contract dispute matters.

How have you supported your personal wellbeing during the past 18 months and how do you feel about returning to the office?

I found it quite a shock in lockdown last year when things I had taken for granted, like seeing my parents or going for a walk, were suddenly so restricted. We are really fortunate to live in an area where we are only a 10-minute walk away from a field or peaceful woodland. So we spent as much time as we were allowed in lockdown going for a walk near home. I had never appreciated until lockdown just how important it was for me to be able to get outside every day and find a spacious place to clear my head.

I am excited to return to the office. I have really missed interacting with the team and my work colleagues. At the same time I am a bit anxious about suddenly spending time indoors with lots of people, so it’s good to see the measures we are taking as a company to ensure a successful return to the office.