The News

Howard Ford former Managing Director of Equant joins Varioptic as Chairman of the Board Lyon, France

21/11/2005

21 November 2005 - Varioptic, the liquid lens company, today announces that Howard Ford, former President of Equant EMEA, has accepted the Chairmanship of the Board of Varioptic.

Howard Ford brings to Varioptic an outstanding business track record and extensive experience across several industries. Currently non-executive Chairman of Servista Ltd., Howard started his career at IBM Europe where he held several positions, including General Manager of IBM's European PC business before joining BT/Cellnet (now O2), a UK-based mobile phone operator as Chief Executive.

From 1997, Howard Ford served at Equant as President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, responsible for Global Sales, Marketing and Professional & Consulting Services, becoming Managing Director in 2002 In April 2005 he retired from the Board of Equant.

Howard served on the board of Radianz, a joint venture between Reuters and Equant until it was sold to BT in 2004, and on the board of QA Training and as the Chairman of the Thames Valley TEC (Training and Enterprise Council), which managed government funds of approx £30m pa for the vocational training of young people in the Thames Valley. He is also Chairman of the Branshaw Foundation, an educational charitable trust.
A native of the UK, Howard earned a BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering from Christ's College, Cambridge.

“Having Howard Ford at Varioptic’s Board of Directors is our honor,” said Etienne Paillard, CEO of Varioptic. “His business acumen and decades of experience in the IT and telecommunication businesses will serve to help Varioptic in reinforcing our business strategies.”

“Varioptic’s technology opens the door to break-through innovations far beyond multimedia applications!” declares Howard Ford “Their clever solution for electrically controllable optical lenses combined with a high market demand makes Varioptic a company to keep an eye on. I share their vision and look forward to contributing to Varioptic’s growth.”

“It’s a pleasure to welcome a high caliber individual such as Howard Ford” said Alain Rodermann, Partner at Sofinnova Partners “I have been with Howard on the Board of Servista for 4 years before he joins Varioptic, and I know that his extensive experience of both big corporations and start-ups will be very valuable to Varioptic.”

About Varioptic
Varioptic S.A, venture-backed by Sofinnova Partners, PolyTechnos Ventures and NIF Partners was founded in 2002. Located in Lyon, France, the company is the world leader in liquid lens technology by pioneering the development of Electrowetting Technology to create revolutionary auto focus and zoom lenses with absolutely no moving parts. These products feature several crucial advantages over traditional technologies in terms of cost, dimensions, power consumption and speed. Varioptic is led by CEO Etienne Paillard, and founder/inventor and CTO Bruno Berge.