Dr. Frederick Bruwer – President and CEO

Dr. Frederick Bruwer founded Azoteq in 1998 with a visionary strategy to develop affordable intelligent switches on silicon. Under his leadership, Azoteq became a reputable leader in sensing- and LED driver solutions.

Previously Dr. Bruwer founded Nanoteq, which developed the Keeloq technology for remote keyless entry (RKE). Keeloq became the world standard for RKE and Nanoteq was sold to Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP) in 1995 where he was appointed VP for the Secure Data Products division.

Dr. Bruwer holds Bachelors, Masters (Cum Laude) and Doctors degrees from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Pieter Pretorius – COO

Pieter Pretorius joined Azoteq in 2004 from Nanoteq where he was Divisional Manager - Security Solutions. During the period 1999 until 2001 Mr. Pretorius played a key role in the establishment of a European presence for Nanoteq’s Security Solutions as the VP for Security Solutions at Comparex Security Solutions in Germany. He is currently the Chief Operations Officer at Azoteq.

Prior to this Mr. Pretorius was also part of the original Keeloq development team at Nanoteq. In 1995 he became Nanoteq’s Manager for Security Services with focus on providing IT Security Solutions into the commercial market.

Mr. Pretorius holds a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree (Cum Laude) in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria.

Jean Viljoen - CSO

Jean Viljoen joined Azoteq in 2000 as a DSP Application Engineer. Mr. Viljoen was one of the key architects who created the ProxSense® product line in 2004 and has been involved with the product line ever since. In 2005 Mr. Viljoen moved into a marketing role and also took on responsibility for the application group at the Paarl Development Centre. Since 2010 Mr. Viljoen has been responsible for worldwide marketing and business development activities of the 2 sensor families of products. Mr. Viljoen leads Azoteq's worldwide expansion by establishing sales and distribution channels in all key markets.

Mr. Viljoen holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

Cobus Engelbrecht – CFO

Cobus joined Azoteq in 2024 from Heineken Beverages SA where he was involved in the Africa business unit, managing programmes and business case studies across the continent, both in a financial as well as a project management capacity.

He is responsible for planning, implementing, managing, and controlling all financial related activities. This includes responsibility for accounting, finance, budgeting and forecasting, statutory compliance, taxation, legal, treasury, facilities management, deal analysis and negotiations, investor relationships with both private and institutional financing.

Cobus holds a B Comms Hons Economics from University of Stellenbosch, B Accounting Hons from UNISA and is a registered CA(SA). .

Dr. Dieter Mellet - CTO

Dr. Dieter Mellet started his career in 2001 as an integrated circuit (IC) designer with South African Micro-Electronic Systems (SAMES) in Pretoria and joined the Azoteq team in 2003. Originally a micro-electronic design engineer and team leader, Dr. Mellet was later appointed as VP of IC Design and has led the micro-electronic design team in the development of intelligent switching solutions, LED drivers and sensor technologies. Dr. Mellet is one of the original inventors of the ProxSense® and ProxFusion® technologies. In 2019 he was appointed the position of Chief Technology Officer.

Dr. Mellet holds a Doctoral degree in Engineering from the University of Pretoria and an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.