Top 10 MyWorld of Tomorrow speakers revealed

The top 10 speakers that will be appearing at My World of Tomorrow 2015 are as follows:

1. Paul Maritz – Pivotal Software – Digital transformation 

Paul Maritz is currently chairman of Pivotal Software, a new private company created to enable enterprises with the new product development and open platform capabilities needed for digital transformation and the Internet of Things. Pivotal is owned by EMC, VMware and General Electric.

Paul was born in 1955 in Zimbabwe and educated in South Africa, where he graduated in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Universities of Natal and Cape Town. He started his working career in the United Kingdom at Burroughs and the University of St. Andrews, and in 1981 he moved to the USA to work at Intel Corporation. In 1986 he joined Microsoft, where he managed the development of many of Microsoft’s core products, including Windows, Exchange, SQL Server and Development Tools, and served as a member of the Executive Team that managed the company. In 2000 he retired from Microsoft, and in 2003 founded a company called PI that was acquired by EMC in 2008. In 2008 Paul joined VMware where he served as CEO until 2012, when he moved to help start Pivotal.

In the non-profit space, Paul served for 10 years on the Board of the Grameen Foundation which supports the development and spread of microfinance and related technologies around the world. He currently supports and serves as on the board of Mifos, which develops open source software for financial inclusion. He also has an active interest in supporting education and wildlife conservation in Africa.

2. Stephen van Coller – Barclays Africa Group – Singularity Big Data

Stephen van Coller is the CE of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) – Barclays Africa Group. Barclays Africa Group Limited has a diversified portfolio of businesses across 14 African countries with assets of approximately USD 91.2 million and currently has more than 41 000 permanent employees. Barclays Africa CIB employs about 3000 people across Africa and has turnover of around USD 1,2 billion.

Stephen joined the Barclays group in 2006. He is a member of the Barclays Africa Group Limited Executive Committee and chairs the Citizenship and Innovation committees across Africa. Stephen is a member of the Barclays Plc Global Investment Committee, the Barclays Social Innovation Fund, Africa Investment Board and is a Trustee of The Absa Foundation Trust.

Stephen is also a member of the WEF Global Agenda Council and sits on the Values Council as well as the Financial Inclusion SteerCo.

Before joining Barclays, Stephen was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank in Johannesburg for 10 years. His last role was Head of Corporate Coverage and Advisory. He was a member of the Executive Committee, a member of the Transformation Committee, and was also a trustee of Deutsche Bank’s social trust – which oversees the firm’s corporate social responsibility spending in the country.

Stephen’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Stellenbosch and a Higher Diploma in Accounting from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the United Kingdom Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

3. Tony de Sousa – Telkom – Ambient intelligence: creating value beyond business-as-usual

Tony joined Telkom Business in January 2014 as Managing Executive: Solutions Business with focus on digitalisation and taking new innovative Enterprise ICT solutions to market

Prior to joining Telkom, Tony was Executive: Product and Marketing at Gijima where he was responsible for the transformation of Product Sales, Sales Operations, and Marketing organizations, and executing go-to-market strategies for new enterprise business offerings in particular, Mobility and Cloud Computing. Tony built and lead the team that delivered Africa’s 1st Mobile IT platform – built by Africans for Africa.

Tony De Sousa is South African and spent 18 years abroad in Europe and US where he held VP Sales roles at a number of multinational ICT companies. Last 12 years spent with software start-ups taking disruptive technologies to market.

4. Ramsés Gallego – Dell – When security became cybersecurity

With a background education in Business Administration (MBA) and Law, Ramsés is a +15 year security professional with deep expertise in the Risk Management and Governance areas. Ramsés is now Security Strategist & Evangelist for Dell Software, where he defines the vision of the security discipline and evangelizes on its mission and strategy.

Before, he was at CA Technologies for 8 years, was Regional Manager for SurfControl in Spain and Portugal, and also Chief Strategy Officer of the Security and Risk Management practice at Entelgy. Ramsés has served for three years in ISACA’s CISM and CGEIT Certification Committees and also in the Guidance & Practices Committee for three years from where deliverables have been created for the community. He is honored to have been the Chair for ISACA’s ISRM Conference and part of the Program Committee for the events SecureCloud 2010 and 2012.

He is now President at the Barcelona Chapter and played an instrumental role in the Planning Committee that prepared first-ever ISACA’s World Congress in Washington, June 2011. He has also been part of the ISACA’s CISM PATF Task Force. Ramsés believes that a revolution (rather than an evolution) is needed when considering the move from technology to enterprise risk and that the cloud dimension offers incredible opportunities for businesses today.

Ramsés thinks that Governance is essential to facilitate innovation in this changing business environment and holds many certifications that combine different knowledge areas and broaden his vision on technology within the marketplace. Ramsés is a CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of the Enterprise IT) and a CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional). He is the proud owner of the SCPM (Stanford Certified Project Manager) from Stanford University, California, one of the first experts with the CCSK (Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge) and also an ITIL and COBIT Foundations certified professional. He develops results-oriented, business-focused, people-driven projects due to his Six Sigma Black Belt accreditation.

An internationally recognized public speaker, has visited +24 different countries in the past 12 months and has been awarded ‘Best Speaker’ many times. He received the John Kuyers Award for Best Speaker/Conference Contributor in June 2013. He has been named ‘Privacy by Design Ambassador’ by the Government of Ontario, Canada and is proud of being Immediate International VP for ISACA’s Board of Directors, with a seat and a vote for the past three years. He lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wonderful wife and his two loved kids.

5. Dr Gwendoline (Gwen) Ramokgopa – Aurecon – Our African city – In My World of Tomorrow

Dr Gwendoline (Gwen) Malegwale Ramokgopa is a qualified Medical Doctor and Public Health Specialist and has experience as a government executive leader from 1995 to 2014, having held the positions of Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane, Provincial Minister of Health in Gauteng and Deputy Health Minister of South Africa.

Previously she held the position of as CEO at SAMDP Investment Holdings as well non-Executive Director of both Netcare and Medscheme. She is currently a non-Executive Director on the Nozala Investment Board and shareholder of Aurecon Group where she holds the position of brand ambassador on Our African Cities.  She also consults on health policy, transformation (including gender), governance and socio-economic development.

Dr Ramokgopa is the Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology, Deputy Chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng and is on the Subcommittee on Education and Health of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC).

Born in Atteridgeville, Dr Ramokgopa obtained her MBChB degree in 1989 and a Master of Public Health degree in 2007 in MEDUNSA. She also undertook studies in Public Health (Wits University), Health Economics and Financing (University of Cape Town), Strategic Management and Marketing (The Graduate School of Management and Technology) and Leadership Development from Harvard University.

As an anti-apartheid and gender equality activist, she occupied various leadership positions in student movements, women’s organisations, professional health associations and in the African National Congress. Her passion and commitment to social justice, sustainable development, innovation and excellence, has seen her provide leadership on matters of responsive policy, corporate governance, people empowerment, as well as research.

6. Clem Sunter – Mind of a Fox – The world and SA beyond 2015

Clem Sunter was born in Suffolk, England on 8th August 1944 and was educated at Winchester College. He went to Oxford where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics before joining Charter Consolidated as a management trainee in 1966.

In 1971, he moved to Lusaka in Zambia to work for Anglo American Corporation Central Africa. From there he was transferred in 1973 to the Head Office of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa in Johannesburg. He spent most of his subsequent career in the Gold and Uranium Division, serving as its Chairman and CEO from 1990 t 1996. At the time it was the largest gold producer in the world. He was until recently Chairman of the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, which in a recent survey was rated the premier corporate social responsibility fund in South Africa.

In the early 1980s, he established a scenario planning function in Anglo with teams in London and Johannesburg. Two members were Pierre Wack and Ted Newland who previously headed up the scenario planning department at Royal Dutch Shell and then acted as consultants to Anglo for over a decade (after their retirement from Shell). Using material from these teams, Mr. Sunter put together a presentation entitled ‘The World and South Africa in the 1990s’ which became very popular in South Africa in the mid-1980s. In it, two scenarios were offered for South Africa: the ‘High Road’ of negotiation leading to a political settlement and the ‘Low Road’ of confrontation leading to a civil war and a wasteland. South Africa took the High Road. Two highlights for Clem were a presentation to FW de Klerk and the Cabinet in 1986 and a visit to Nelson Mandela in prison to discuss the future just before his release.

Since 1987, he has authored 17 books some of which have been bestsellers. His other main interests are seeking to mobilise the private sector in the war against HIV/AIDS and create a new generation of entrepreneurs in South Africa.

7. Dion Chang – Flux Trends – From preaching in tweets to digital intimacy: The impact of technology on humanity

Dion Chang is an innovator, creative thinker and walking ideas bank. He is one of South Africa’s most respected trend analysts and takes the unique view of “trends as business strategy”. While his feet remain firmly planted on African soil, he uses a global perspective to gauge the zeitgeist, source ahead-of-the-curve concepts and identify shifting business templates. In a world struggling to adapt to a new world order, his trends analysis company – Flux Trends – specializes in understanding consumer mindset and identifying unexpected business opportunities within shifting trends, ensuring that global trends have relevance when translated for South African businesses.

He has 20 years’ experience in the magazine industry and as a journalist and media spokesman, which enables him to provide insights into the ever-changing relationship between brands, consumers and the communication channels that bind them.

He has devised and hosted 3 trend conferences and published 3 trend books (the last being, “New Urban Tribes of South Africa”). Flux Trends currently releases industry specific trend reports every quarter. Apart from being an information source on a cross section of trends for many journalists, he currently writes columns for City Press, SAA’s Sawubona magazine, Acumen (a C-suite business quarterly for GIBS) and has a monthly radio slot on MetroFM, as well as a bi-weekly online radio slot with eBizRadio.

He is passionate about youth trends and subcultures, their impact and influence on an emerging new world order, as well as innovative ideas for greater good.

8. Jason Jordaan – DFIRLABS – The evolution of digital forensics and investigation in a ‘fully connected world’

Jason is a professional forensic scientist (digital and multimedia evidence) and a specialist in the prevention and investigation of cybercrime. He is the founder and Principal Forensic Scientist at DFIRLABS, an independent digital forensics laboratory. He was previously the Head of the Cyber Forensic Laboratory of the Special Investigating Unit. He has been a practicing forensic investigation professional since 1991, and has specialised in the field of digital forensics science and cybercrime investigation since 1998. He has testified on several occasions in the South African High Court as an expert witness.

Jason has a Masters’ degree in Computer Science Cum Laude, Masters’ degree in Forensic Investigation; an Honours degree in Information Systems, majoring in computer forensics; a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Computer Science Summa Cum Laude, majoring in computer forensics and information security; and a Bachelor’s degree in Policing, majoring in investigation. He has also received extensive training from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States in the fields of computer crime investigation, advanced economic crime investigation, and public corruption investigations. He is a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner, a Certified Fraud Examiner, a GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner, a Professional Member of the Institute of Information Technology of South Africa, a Professional Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Science, and an AccessData Certified Examiner.

He is an active academic, researcher, trainer and mentor in the international digital forensics community. He has taught digital forensics at the University of Cape Town, the University of Pretoria, and Rhodes University. He is a community instructor for the SANS Institute digital forensics curriculum for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has trained police officers and prosecutors throughout East Africa in digital forensics and cybercrime investigation. He has also mentored digital forensic practitioners from Europe, the Middle East, and Pacific Rim as an IACIS mentor.

His digital forensics research has been published in several international peer reviewed scientific journals. He is also a co-­‐author of “The Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CCFP CBK” an international textbook about digital forensics practice, and wrote the chapters on Fundamental Principles of Forensic Science, Forensic Science Processes, Quality Assurance in Forensic Science, and Multimedia Forensics. He is also a co-­‐author of the book “Forensic Investigation: Scientific Practices and Legislative Principles”, and wrote the chapters on Digital Forensics, and Testifying in Court.

9. Emma Sadleir – Emma Sadleir Social Media Law – The legal, disciplinary and reputational risks of social media

Emma Sadleir’s areas of expertise include all aspects of print and electronic media law, with a particular focus on defamation, privacy and social media law. She is an admitted attorney and has a BA LLB (with distinction) from the University of Witwatersrand and an LLM in Information Technology, Media and Communications Law (with distinction) from the London School of Economics, having been awarded a scholarship from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. She worked in the media litigation department of Webber Wentzel for five years before going on her own to specialise in social media law in April 2013. Much of her work involves creating social media strategies and policies for corporates and schools, drafting social media agency agreements and providing training and workshops on social media law. She also teaches media law to journalists and lawyers and lectures personal reputation management on various MBA programmes.

Emma was an anchor for The Oscar Pistorius Trial: A Carte Blanche Channel where, for the duration of the evidence in the trial, she hosted a programme discussing social media, the law and court proceedings. Emma was retained as a legal commentator for the BBC (both radio and television) for closing argument, verdict and sentencing of the Oscar Pistorius trial.

Emma has been selected to speak at SXSW in March 2015 and has a regular weekly slot on DJ Fresh’s show on 5FM answering people’s questions on social media legal issues.

Emma is the co-author of “Don’t Film Yourself Having Sex… And Other Legal Advice For The Age of Social Media”, published by Penguin Random House in September 2014. The book was described by Professor Jonathan Jansen as “the most important textbook” a university student will buy. Emma is also the co-author of the social media section of the legal textbook, “Communications Law”, published by Lexis Nexus in January 2015.

10. Fredell Jacobs – Innovation Hub – How technology and innovation is bettering the lives of South Africans

Fredell is currently the GM for Enterprise Development at The Innovation Hub. He is passionate about entrepreneurship capacity development which is grounded in entrepreneurship ecosystem methodology.

Prior to joining The Innovation Hub he served as the founding CEO of the South African Startup Index (SASi), a company which designed monitoring and evaluation tools for entrepreneurship capacity development in support of investment visibility.

Darryl Linington