Witsie voted president of top engineering academy
- Wits Alumni Relations
Dr John Lazar will lead the Royal Academy of Engineering for the next five years.
Global technology pioneer and investor Dr John Lazar (BSc 1982, BSc Hons 1983) has been confirmed as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering following a vote by Fellows at the Academy’s AGM on Tuesday 17 September 2024. He will serve a term of five years, which will include the Academy’s 50th anniversary in 2026.
Dr Lazar graduated from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar with a master’s in computation and a doctorate in history, after his undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Wits. He is a software engineer and widely experienced business leader who is focused on combining technology and entrepreneurship to generate lasting positive impact. He is Chair of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which aims to help young people realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. Raspberry Pi recently completed a successful IPO of its commercial subsidiary on the London Stock Exchange.
"Engineers are drivers of innovation and economic opportunity, developing and delivering new products, services and enterprises that help to solve pressing problems, and generate jobs and value for society. Our great profession has much to offer to humanity, both in the UK and around the world, and I look forward to building on the excellent work of my predecessors in increasing our impact and expounding the vital role of engineering in addressing global challenges,” he said in the statement released by the academy.
He is the co-founder, general partner, and a limited partner at Enza Capital, which backs founders and teams using technology to solve large and meaningful problems across Africa. He sits on the boards of multiple African technology companies. He previously served as the Chair of What3words and was awarded a CBE for services to engineering in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2016.
Dr Lazar has vast experience building and managing businesses. He joined Metaswitch Networks in 1987 as a software engineer and became CEO in 2009 and then Chairman in 2015, as the company established its leadership in communications software.?He stepped down in 2016 and Metaswitch was acquired by Microsoft in 2020.
Dr Lazar was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2011 and chairs the Academy’s Enterprise Committee, which supports startups and scaleups across the UK and globally through the Enterprise Hub.?He has also been a member of the Academy’s Education and Skills Committee and played an active role in developing the programme of study for England’s school Computer Science curriculum.
Dr Lazar led the programme development for the 2019 Global Grand Challenges Summit Engineering in an unpredictable world, which brought 900 engineers from across the world to London to address the challenges posed by disruptive technologies, climate change and providing resources for a growing world population.
For the past seven years, he has been a judge and mentor for the Academy’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, which trains and backs early-stage African engineering companies.? He has also spent many years working on tech-related non-profit initiatives in Africa, especially building “digital blacksmiths” and maker labs. He has been an active angel investor and technology start-up mentor in the UK and Africa, with more than 40 individual pre-seed/seed investments.
Dr Lazar is based in London, and travels across Africa on a regular basis. Beyond engineering, he is passionate about hiking, running, art (his wife is a practising artist), tinkering on his 3D printer and Raspberry Pi, and Arsenal football club.
Source: Royal Academy of Engineering