Thomas Lee
Technology leader in AI, cloud and IoT
- Role
- CTO and Co-Founder, Compound Bridge
- Since
- November 2025
- Based
- Pretoria, South Africa
- Member
- C12
I have spent more than 25 years in technology, in sales, presales, engineering and running companies. Today I match AI use cases with the right infrastructure for organisations across Africa.
CTO and Co-Founder of Compound Bridge
Compound Bridge is an African advisory and integration firm for AI infrastructure and enterprise transformation. As CTO I match each client's AI use cases with the right technology. We build AI cloud platforms on OpenStack and Kubernetes, and work with AMD and NVIDIA.
I built a public cloud in South Africa years before the hyperscalers arrived
As CEO of Wingu I chose OpenStack, built the platform, took it to production and ran it for more than five years.
- 2014Wingu
- 2019Microsoft Azure
- 2020AWS
- 2024Google Cloud
- Note 1
- Africa's first Ubuntu-certified public cloud (ITWeb, 2017)
- Note 2
- Finalist, OpenStack Superuser Award, Vancouver 2018
- Note 3
- In production for more than five years
More than 25 years in technology
Sales, presales, engineering and running companies, from a Centurion start-up to Compound Bridge.
- 2023 to 2024MTNSenior Manager, IoT Solution Sales
- 2020 to 2023IoT.nxt, a Vodacom companyGrew solution engineering from 3 to 40 people across the USA, Europe and Africa
- 2014 to 2020NEC XONGeneral Manager, Cloud Services
- 2008 to 2014Solution BloxChief Operating Officer; grew sales past R25 million
There are unique challenges and opportunities in Africa.
“We think that what works in other countries or continents will work in an African setting, while we have unique environments, both physically and culturally. There are unique challenges and opportunities in Africa.”
That belief shaped Wingu, and it shapes the AI infrastructure I work on today.
- 21 Oct 2026
- Keynote, SAIAE Biennial Symposium, Upington
Talk to me for 15 minutes
For advisory and strategy, partnerships and ventures, speaking invitations or a technology deployment. Pick a time that suits you.
Thomas the Technologist