Our Leadership Team
Welcome to the leadership member page of Tait Communications. Here, you will meet the exceptional individuals who steer the course of our organization and lead us towards a brighter future. Our leadership team embodies the values, vision, and passion that define our company. With their extensive expertise, strategic thinking, and unwavering commitment, they inspire and empower our employees to deliver excellence in everything we do. Together, they form a cohesive force that navigates the ever-evolving business landscape, drives innovation, and fosters a culture of collaboration and growth. Get to know our remarkable leaders who embody the spirit of Tait Communications and propel us to new heights of success.
Dr Yoram Benit
Chief Executive Officer
Dr Yoram Benit has been Chief Executive Officer of Christchurch-based Tait Communications since June 2021. He joined the company in the United States and moved to New Zealand in early 2019 following his promotion to Chief Operating Officer.
An electrical engineer by trade, Yoram was with Motorola Solutions for 31 years, in director-level roles in Latin and North America with responsibility for customer operations, technical support and marketing, sales engineering and product management. In 2011, he was promoted to Vice President with responsibility for product and solution management and pre-sales engineering. From 2015-2018, Yoram worked for Harris Corporations as VP of Product Line Management in the Public Safety and Professional Communications division. Yoram holds an Electrical Engineering Degree from Tel Aviv University, Executive MBA from University of Miami Florida, and a PhD in Global Leadership and Risk Management from Lynn University Florida.
Yoram and Ariela Benit have two adult children. Ariela has taught in high schools around the world and is also a paramedic who volunteers with St John Ambulance as a First Responder. For leisure, Yoram likes to play basketball and hike.
Avi Friedman
Vice President of Corporate Development
Avi Friedman joined Tait in March 2019 with over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining Tait, Avi served Harris Corporation for three years as a Public Safety and Commercial Communications Release Manager.
He held various positions in Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Business Development throughout his career. He obtained his Master’s in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University and his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University.
Avi is married and has three children, two are college graduate engineers and one high school student. Avi is based in the Washington DC metro area and is spending about half his time in Christchurch.
Belkis Pena
Chief Transition, Organizational Performance Officer
Ms.Pena is the Chief Transition and Organizational Performance at Tait Communications. Belkis is based in Florida, USA, from where she directs teams in Christchurch, NZ and regionally deployed personnel throughout Tait’s global footprint thus mobilizing Tait’s resources for the alignment of purpose and key performance indicators that lead to the successful execution of Tait’s business strategy.
In addition to managing the talent strategy for Tait, Belkis is responsible for enabling operational and organizational performance through the transformation of people, culture and processes.
Belkis joined Tait in 2014 after a successful career in the telecommunications industry with AT&T and its legacy companies Lucent Technologies and Alcatel-Lucent. Throughout her career Belkis held a diversity or roles in Information Technology in the role of CIO, Product Management in International Services, Services Sales and Human Resources. Her professional experiences as a senior leader include business model transformation & CIO, profit and loss responsibility, new product introductions, HR policy creation and Diversity & Inclusion management as well as Senior Strategic Business Partner. Belkis has consistently managed scopes of responsibility at domestic (USA), regional and global levels, operating from the US, Europe and Latin America to fulfil different roles.
Ms. Pena holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems from Manhattan College (NY, USA), and an MBA from Pittsburgh University (Pennsylvania, USA). She has attended Executive Leadership programs at Duke University and Babson College.
David Kim
Chief Revenue Officer
David Kim serves as the Chief Revenue Officer at Tait Communications, where he leads the company’s global revenue, strategy and growth initiatives.
Prior to Tait, David held senior executive roles at industry-leading companies, including Samsung Electronics, Sage, and Cisco Systems, driving business transformation and revenue expansion across diverse markets.
Emmanuel Stauder
Chief Operating Officer
Appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer in March 2022, Emmanuel Stauder’s career at Tait Communications has spanned over more than 20 years.
Born in France and an electrical engineering graduate of Toulouose’s ENSEEIHT, Emmanuel’s first industry positions were with Thales and Nortel Networks before moving to New Zealand and a software engineering role with Tait Communications. From leading teams and development projects, Emmanuel was promoted to head the company’s Software Infrastructure Group and later to Software Engineering Manager. In 2017 he became Engineering Manager and later Vice President of Engineering.
A market-focused leader, Emmanuel says, “Our customers look to Tait to help them migrate to new technologies but to also maintain those traditional Tait standards of ruggedness and reliability. It is a very interesting time to be working in this area of communications.”
Krishna Guda
Chief Financial Officer
Krishna has 35 years of corporate leadership experience in the IT & T industry. His strengths are across financial management, corporate strategy, digital growth, business transformation, M&A/strategic partnering, and Business development across global markets.
He has had many diverse roles as Regional CFO, Country Head and Director M&A across multiple global locations in New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, Sweden, USA and China.
More recently, he is a mentor, investor and advisor to multiple tech startups with innovative IoT and SaaS solutions. Krishna is a member of CAANZ, ACCA and has a BCom and MBA in Finance. His personal credo: “Be Positive: Curious; Professional. Make people around me happy!!”
On a more relaxed note, Krishna loves to travel with his camera, an avid sports fan, reads anything he can lay his hands on and enjoys sampling exquisite food and wine. He is a member of Toastmasters and has been a mentor with Project K helping improve efficacy of high school students in New Zealand.of high school students in New Zealand.
Maria Rowe
Chief Marketing Officer
Maria Rowe is the Chief Marketing Officer for Tait Communications and leads the Marketing, Brand and Customer Experience functions for Tait globally. She is also Tait’s first appointed female CMO.
With more than 15 years experience in the critical communications industry, Maria Rowe has worked closely alongside public safety, utilities and transportation organizations throughout the world. From New Zealand, Maria is currently based in Houston, Texas.
Maria graduated from the University of Otago with Bachelors of Commerce in Marketing and Spanish, and a Post Graduate in Marketing passed with Distinction. In 2019, Maria won the IWCE Young Professionals Award which represents the next-generation of leaders in the communications technology industry. Maria was also the award winner of Tait’s prestigious Global Customer Experience Award in 2021.
Penny Hoogerwerf
Chief Legal Officer
Penny Hoogerwerf is the Chief Legal Officer for Tait Communications and heads our global legal, compliance, commercial and risk functions at Tait.
Penny holds a BA LLB from the University of New South Wales, Sydney and has 25 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer spanning the UK, Australia and New Zealand. More than half of that time has been spent working in-house with large corporates across a range of sectors. Penny is an expert in corporate governance, risk management and infrastructure projects.
PJ Jayawardene
Chief Technology Officer
PJ Jayawardene joined Tait as the Chief Technology Officer in November 2023.
Prior to joining Tait, PJ led a successful 20-year multi-national career across generations of cellular technology introduction from 3G to 5G, WiFi and then converging the core and access network technologies in the fiber and DOCSIS domains.
In his role prior to joining Tait, he led all strategic wireless and convergence research and development initiatives at Charter Communications in the United States, which resulted in him being the author of over 20 patents. PJ brings exceptional expertise in strategic planning, innovation, and technology leadership, that will enable Tait to pioneer disruptive technology solutions to our customers.
PJ holds a BE in Telecommunications from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
An avid golfer and snowboarder, he resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife and two children.