James Eiloart

Group Chairperson

My career has been firmly rooted in software, data and analytics. My early career as a developer (I wasn’t very good at that!) soon led to roles in sales, marketing and then leadership positions in a number of innovative and fast growing US and UK software companies.

I joined Tableau in 2012 to lead the business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. At the time it was little more than a start up in EMEA, but over the next few it grew to become a market leader. It was a fabulous time and working with our partners we were able to introduce Tableau to tens of thousands of customers across EMEA as well as supporting a remarkable and inspirational Tableau community – the DataFam.

It was back in 2012 when I first discovered The Information Lab who were already successfully selling and implementing Tableau in UK and beyond to help people see and understand data. Over my 8 years leading Tableau EMEA, TIL was hugely impactful and consistently the top Partner in EMEA.

So when I retired from Tableau in 2020 it was an easy decision to become an advisor to TIL and subsequently to take the position of Group Chair. My focus is on helping the company grow and scale while maintaining a great culture and a sharp eye on excellent outcomes for customers.

Today, alongside this role, I advise a number of early stage tech companies and mentor executive leaders in the tech sector.

Camaraderie and Competition....

I’ve always been sports mad and pride myself on achieving a level of complete mediocrity in a whole number of sports!

Since retiring from full time executive roles, I have found far more time to follow non-work pursuits. In particular it’s a joy to travel as a tourist as opposed to as a businessman.

However, it’s the golf course that continually proves the strongest lure. It’s endlessly frustrating but I love the mix of camaraderie and competition in the outdoors – and besides, there are so many fabulous and beautiful courses to play.

I now have considerably more time to indulge this passion and had hoped, not unreasonably, that playing far more frequently would result in a significant drop in my handicap. Sadly, that has not proven to be the case – more work to do it seems!