About Tautona AI
Meet Our Leadership Team
We love what we do and we do it with passion. We value the experimentation, the reformation of the message, and the smart incentives.
John Holdsworth
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
John is serial a entrepreneur with a track record of identifying emerging trends in disruptive sectors, building pioneering companies and leading them to profitability and exit. John was the founder and CEO of ECN which pioneered the use of Voice Over IP (VoIP) in South Africa. ECN was sold to Reunert Ltd for R172m in July 2011
John studied Industrial Engineering at Technicon Witwatersrand and completed the Management Development Program (MDP) at the University of Cape Town
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Philip Cooper
Director Business Development
Philip has held various executive positions with local and international technology organisation’s and is an acknowledged expert in electronic payments and Fintech.
Prior to joining Tautona, Philip pioneered a suite of prepaid solutions for some of the worlds largest online brands, including UBER, iTunes, Google Play and Microsoft.
Philip holds a B.Com. Management Accounting degree from the University of Stellenbosch.
James Clay
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
James has a passion for building technologies which drive change and efficiency. He has experience leading development teams with a variety of programming languages.
James has experience in technology sectors in freight logistics, and is responsible for driving digital change and data handling in this industry for South Africa.
James is a qualified Electrical Engineer with a BSc as well as an MSc Engineering Degree (with Distinction) from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Hein Smith
Chief Technology Architect
Hein is an IT professional with 10+ years experience spanning a range of technologies including: Java, Linux, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, Docker and cloud computing
Hein has been instrumental in developing solutions for a number of large multinationals including Vodafone
Hein has the following certifications: Oracle Certified Professional; Java Programmer; Oracle Certified Expert Java EE Web Component and JavaBeans Developer