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Three years ago, BT was losing a billion pounds a year. Analysts in the City were predicting the break-up of BT and the sale of BT Ignite (now BT Global Services). Global Services now turns over £5.4bn a year, operates worldwide in 170 countries and has around 22,000 employees.
General counsel Tim Cowen has been a driving force and an integral part of this turnaround. Cowen sits on the executive of Global Services, deciding on strategy, but crucially also has the clout to drive a transaction forward when seniority is required.
BT's legal group operates as one community and Cowen will draw on the expertise of lawyers from other divisions, depending on the needs of the customer. This has eased BT's growth as a systems integrator, and as such, the legal complexity thickens as BT has to arrange its contracts and those of its subcontractors.
Cowen's group has been involved in around 4,500 bids and tenders in 2003. It has landed contracts with the Royal Mail, Unilever and, most recently, the NHS. Cowen led the team that landed two contracts with the NHS, worth a combined £1.6bn and BT's biggest deals to date. With BT bidding for another two NHS contracts, 2004 could be an equally big year. Cowen is likely to make sure of it.
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The Hot100
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