John Lazar (engineer)

John Wilfred Lazar (born March 1959) is a British investor, engineer and businessman. He spent much of his career at Metaswitch, where he served as chairman and CEO, after starting at the company as a software engineer.

He received his in 2016 for services to engineering. Lazar currently serves as the chairman for the Raspberry Pi Foundation and co-founder & General Partner at Enza Capital.

Education and career
Lazar graduated in Computer science from the University of the Witwatersrand and then completed an MSc in that subject and a DPhil in History at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

He began his career in 1987 at Metaswitch, rising through the company and becoming its CEO in 2009, and then chairman in 2015. Metaswitch was an innovator in the Voice over IP and softswitches industries. While serving as its CEO, Metaswitch opened a new technology facility at Cambridge University. Metaswitch built a strong relationship with AT&T as a leader of network virtualization, and also launched the Project Calico, an open source project.

Since leaving his roles at Metaswitch, Lazar has focused heavily on investing in both UK technology companies and also African-based startups through Enza Capital. He also works closely with a number of institutions to support competitions for African startups and engineering innovations. Lazar has also spoken at various summits about the future of engineering. In 2020 he became the Chair of the Board for the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Recognition
In 2016 Lazar was honoured with a for his services to the engineering industry. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2011 and in February 2024 the Academy announced his nomination as its Presidential candidate for election by Fellows at the September 2024 AGM.