Welcome to our blog series, DataFlow Voices! In this series, we feature one-on-one interviews with our team members from around the globe. Get to know our team, learn about their experiences and find out what it’s like working at DataFlow.
Meet Tony Fargher, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the DataFlow Group. Originally from Wellington in New Zealand, Tony is based out of our Dubai office. Our CFO’s greatest strengths are his razor-sharp analytical ability and stellar interpersonal skills, which have helped him build successful relationships throughout the company.
Find out what a day in the life of a CFO is like and hear more about Tony’s passion for data verification to make the fight against fraud more effective:
Hi Tony! Can you tell our readers more about what it’s like to work at DataFlow?
I like coming to work each day knowing that what we do protects people and communities and changes lives for the better.
Firstly, we ensure that professionals seeking to move into a new country are who they say they are through Primary Source Verification (PSV). If they attempt to use fraudulent documents/credentials, we will help prevent this from happening, therefore protecting the people that would have otherwise been impacted. This is very important in industries such as healthcare, engineering and education/immigration in particular.
For the vast majority of professionals not attempting to use fraudulent documents, we offer services via our TrueProfile.io platform that will help and support them in the life-changing process of moving to a new country to further their careers and gain new experiences.
Being part of a company that has, at its heart, the core objective of protecting and helping people makes working at the DataFlow Group fulfilling.
What did you do before joining the DataFlow Group?
I am a qualified Chartered Accountant and hold a 1st Class Honours degree in Accounting and Commercial Law. Before joining the DataFlow Group in 2018, I spent nearly seven years at Serco Group plc, a FTSE 250 UK listed company, as Finance Director. There, I oversaw their Integrated Services Sector across the Middle East.
Prior to that, I worked as the Finance Director of the Mubadala subsidiary John Buck International in Abu Dhabi. Before that, I worked with Goldman Sachs Bank in London and PwC in Wellington, New Zealand, my hometown.
What do you love most about what you do?
As the CFO, I am lucky to be able to engage with our people and teams across the entire company. I typically have daily interactions with DataFlow staff from Operations, IT, Sales, Account Management and HR, in addition to my amazing Finance team.
This means that there is a huge amount of variety in each day and week as we work together across functions to deliver in the best way that we can for the thousands of applicants that rely on us each month to verify their documents and provide them with high-value services.
Can you tell us a fun fact about you, Tony?
The story of how I proposed to my wife is quite unusual. We were on holiday in Jordan and on a day trip to Wadi Rum in the middle of the desert. I somehow found myself proposing to her when we were both sitting on the backs of different camels at sunset… The ring transfer, in hindsight, was quite a high risk!
Stay tuned to our DataFlow Voices blog series to hear more from DataFlow colleagues like Tony Fargher about their career journeys, what it’s really like working at the DataFlow Group, and what they value most about their impact on our organization, customers, clients and mission.
Read about our other team members in the DataFlow Voices series: