SARA Conference 2022

Conference
Programme
Sponsors
Marketing Videos
Speakers

The past two years were very IMPACTful for all of us due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From a conference perspective, the challenge we faced was to ensure that we were still able create a platform where we, as a fraternity, could connect, network and share, while not being able to gather in-person as we traditionally did.

The 2020 and 2021 virtual Conference and Reward Awards were a success by many measures, and we were grateful to our delegates and sponsors for the continued commitment and support for the conference during that period.

However, as the lockdown restrictions had been relaxed, we had sensed a growing PURPOSE from some of our colleagues to reconnect in person in the traditional way. Given the fact that it was SARA’s 25th Birthday, it was the perfect time to host a PHYSICAL Conference for our members and other key stakeholders from 3 to 4 November, followed by the Reward Awards on 5 November 2022. For those who could not to travel to the venue, we still offered an online version of the event.

Take a peek at our exciting line up as we launch the conference programme.

The conference programme is subject to change

Platinum Sponsors:

Gold Sponsor:

Silver Sponsors:

		Chris Blair Topic: ESG - a trend or an impactful change that is here to stay? Job Title: CEO, 21st Century Chris Blair, Chief Executive Officer of 21st Century, has consulted to over 500 organisations - both in Southern Africa and internationally. Areas of specialisation include incentive schemes, cost benefit analysis, financial modelling, breakeven analysis, feasibility studies, shareholder value, performance management systems, salary structures, total cost of employment, share schemes, organisation design and policy development. He is considered to be one of South Africa's leading experts in share scheme design for both listed and unlisted companies. Chris has published numerous articles on remuneration, and he has appeared in the press for expert views on the subject and serves on numerous Boards.

		Dr Mark Bussin Topic: Global Governance and Reward Trends Job Title: Chair, 21st Century Board member, Professor, Author, Consultant, Pilot, Member of King Committee. LinkedIn

		Scott Cawood Topic: The Great Reimagination Job Title: CEO, WorldatWork Dr. Scott Cawood, CCP, GRP, CSCP, CBP, is CEO of WorldatWork, a leading global Total Rewards & Human Capital Association. Founded in 1955, WorldatWork has delivered premium certifications in 92 countries, and counts among their members over 80% of Fortune 500 Companies. With offices in Dubai, Arizona, and Pune, India, WorldatWork serves a global market as it works to build productive, committed, and inspired workforces worldwide. Scott holds four degrees, including his doctorate from the Graduate School of Education and Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. As a Wharton Fellow, Scott earned the honor of distinction for his dissertation which focused on how organizational culture is learned by new hires. He also studied labor and industrial relations at Michigan State University where he was very active in student government and worked at Crunchy’s, a favorite local hangout. LinkedIn

		Andrew Davison Topic: Employee Benefits: Maximising the Employee Value Proposition Job Title: Head of Advice for Old Mutual Corporate Consultants Andrew Davison is Head of Advice at Old Mutual Corporate Consultants. He also serves as Chairman of the Investments Committee of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. He has over 25 years of experience in investments ranging from investment product development for both life companies and asset managers to consulting on all aspects of investment strategy to a variety of retirement funds and other institutions including medical aids, trusts and charities. Andrew has served on various trustee boards and management committees of retirement funds. He is a regular speaker on retirement and investment matters at industry events and conferences. LinkedIn

		Leila Ebrahimi Topic: Linking remuneration structures to ESG Job title: Partner and co-lead of PwC Reward practice Leila is an admitted attorney, holding the qualifications BCom (Law), LLB, and HDip Tax. Leila has wide reward consulting experience and has assisted a wide variety of listed and unlisted clients with strategic reward matters. She is an expert in incentive design. LinkedIn

		Robert Gad Topic: Equity Compensation at Private Firms Job Title: Director: Tax, ENSafrica Robert Gad is an Executive in ENSafrica’s tax practice and specialises in corporate tax, share incentive schemes, mergers and acquisitions, private client matters, value-added tax (“VAT”) and tax litigation. Robert is an expert in advising corporates and B-BBEE shareholders on the tax-efficient structuring, re-structuring, financing and refinancing of broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) investment and ownership transactions, including loans, equity, preference share funding and notional vendor financing arrangements. He is chairman of the South African Law Society's Committee on Exchange Control and Tax Matters. Robert is a member of a dedicated ENSafrica team specialising in the commercial, financial, legal, tax and regulatory aspects relevant to employee and management remuneration, benefits and incentives. This team services blue chip South African corporates in the listed and unlisted space, designing and implementing incentive plans to achieve their desired commercial outcomes. LinkedIn

		Martin Hopkins Topic: Equity Compensation at Private Firms Job Title: Head of Reward Advisory Services, Bowmens Martin Hopkins is Head of Reward Advisory Services at Bowmens working closely with their Employment & Benefits and Tax Practice. Martin is an applied mathematician and computer scientist by training and has advised top South African and international companies and their board committees on the full range of compensation matters. These include executive remuneration, strategy development and evaluation, investment decisions, value driver models, balanced scorecards, performance management and IT to deliver value. Martin has an MSc in applied mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University in the USA. He also has B.Sc. and a B.Sc. Honours degree in applied mathematics and computer science from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he won numerous awards, including the Chancellor’s Medal for Most Distinguished Graduate. He is the current Immediate Past President of SARA, a member of the Executive Committee of SARA and a Master Reward Specialist. LinkedIn

		Marike Jacobs Topic: A Living Wage in South Africa Job Title: Manager, PwC Marike is a CA (SA) and a Manager in the PwC Reward practice. She has wide reward consulting experience, focusing on salary benchmarking, the design of short- and long-term incentive plans, financial modelling, and fair and responsible remuneration. LinkedIn

		Michael Ketz Topic: Equity Compensation at Private Firms Job Title: CEO & Founder, ShareForce Michael is the CEO and founder of ShareForce, which he established in conjunction with the multinational conglomerate, the VAT IT Group. Michael has extensive experience and knowledge in executive and broad-based employee incentive structures as well as the pricing and structure of derivative financial instruments and embedded options. LinkedIn

		Tswelo Kodisang Topic: Keynote Address Job Title: Chief People Officer, FirstRand Tswelo, FirstRand’s Group Chief People Officer is a commercially driven, international HR Leader with more than 25 years’ experience in building dynamic people functions. He has operated as a business partner and trusted advisor across various regions Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, Israel and the UK for large companies like Unilever, Tiger Brands and Discovery. Tswelo has a proven track record in improving business performance through talent acquisition and development, performance management, managing business change/transformation, building critical business capabilities and nurturing powerful, enabling corporate cultures He coaches and enables, whilst fostering accountability and impact. Tswelo joined FirstRand in 2021 where he is applying his extensive knowledge in creating business critical capabilities, with FirstRand’s core purpose and values as a foundation, to build the best people function in the industry and take the FirstRand group into number one position as top employer He is focused on creating the ultimate employee experience, preparing for the future world of work and harnessing the value of people analytics. LinkedIn

		Candice Mncwabe Topic: Inclusion in the Workplace: Gender Identity and Total Rewards Job Title: Reward and Policy Manager, Stonehage Fleming Certified Global Remuneration Professional with over 10 years of experience in Human Resources, Accounting, Compensation and Benefits in multi-national matrix teams including various African countries. Having worked in various industries from multimedia houses to financial services and manufacturing, there is one common thread that she has found regardless of industry and that is the undeniable and critical role that Human Capital professionals have to play as key agents of business success. Candice has initiated and played a pivotal role in various HR and remuneration system design projects and implementations, policy developments, reward and benefit projects and various reward governance initiatives. LinkedIn

		Steve Moss Topic: How the World’s Best Brands Use Revolutionary Rewards to Inspire and Engage Employees Job Title: Global Compensation Leader, Recognition, IBM Steve Moss leads IBM’s Global Recognition Team, responsible for the design and delivery of the company’s market leading recognition portfolio. A graduate of IBM’s HR Leadership Development Program, Steve leads IBM teams through HR transformation projects that improve employee experiences and drive efficiency. During his six years with IBM HR, Steve has worked in HR specialist and generalist roles driving change in Talent Acquisition, Engagement, Performance Management, Compensation, HR Partnering and HR Operations. As an HR futurist, Steve is passionate about the evolution of the HR function, believing it to be front and center of the changing nature of work.

		Vumile Msweli Topic: Cracking the culture code Job Title: CEO, Hesed Consulting Vumile is an international speaker and accelerator coach. She has previously worked for reputable multi- national institutions such as Barclays, Investec, Nedbank, First National Bank and Vodafone. Vumile is a Certified Financial Planner; an Operations, Finance and Strategy Specialist in both the telecommunications and finance sectors. She is the CEO of Hesed Consulting (Pty) Ltd, a pan-African Coaching firm with presence in South Africa; Nigeria; Botswana and Rwanda. Vumile has worked closely with individuals and small businesses to coach them to fast track their trajectory in achieving their goals. She aids to empower people with the skills to excel in their particular environment. She specializes in the following coaching arenas: Business; Executive; Career and Leadership Coaching. LinkedIn

		Nicol Mullins Topic: Reward insights from across the African continent Job Title: Managing Partner, Africa People Advisory Group Nicol has spent his career (15 years) working across 130 countries globally. He has a love for the African continent and is passionate about people and working with numbers. LinkedIn

		Nevan Naidoo Topic: Reward insights from across the African continent Job Title: Group Head Reward and Organisational Effectiveness Solutions, Shoprite Group of Companies Nevan is a seasoned Human Capital, Reward, Benefits, Global Mobility professional, with 23 years’ experience. He spent 16 years managing a reward function of different proportions and has successfully led teams in Reward, Benefits, Mobility and Human Capital. During his career, he worked and gained comprehensive knowledge of people practices and reward experience across markets globally including Africa, Asia, Europe, and USA. LinkedIn

		Malusi Ndlovu Topic: Employee Benefits: Maximising the Employee Value Proposition Job Title: Director: Large Enterprise Market, Old Mutual Corporate Consultants Malusi has spent most of his career in the South African Employee Benefits industry. He has experience in retirement fund consulting, finance, product development, strategy and management. Since January 2021 he has held the role of Director: Large Enterprise Market. He has a proven track record and brings a variety of experience gained through his previous work experience at Old Mutual, Liberty and MMI. An actuary, he is also a non-executive director of OMART, a cell captive life insurer and holds an MBA with distinction from Hariot-Watt University (UK). LinkedIn

		Vishen Pillay Topic: Flushing the feelings - Have we discarded humans as a critical component of Human Resources? Job title: Managing Partner, Varaya Wellness Vishen is a People Specialist with over a decade's worth of experience across multiple functions in the Human Resource industry. He is an accomplished Recruiter, Global Mobility practitioner, Wellness Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Coach. He began his career in the field of psychology over 16 years ago before venturing into the corporate world, tying together his love for people and business. His mission is to empower people and organizations with the tools they need for optimal success. He does this by building trust, fostering care and ultimately, creating conscious shifts. LinkedIn

		Rene Richter Topic: Employee Benefits: Maximising the Employee Value Proposition Job Title: Managing Director: Remchannel (Pty) Ltd René has more than 27 years’ experience in reward consulting comprising of remuneration trend surveys, job architecture, pay structuring and remuneration management. She was a founding member of the REMchannel on-line salary survey which provides invaluable remuneration trend information to more than 700 clients in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland. René has been in several leadership positions in Remchannel under the ownership of PSG, PwC and for the past 18 months under the ownership of Old Mutual. She has a passion for technology which has culminated in the various reward consulting tools provided by Remchannel such as REMeasure and REMprofile over the past 10 years.

		Dawie Roodt Topic: Latest economic trends and outlook Job Title: Economist Dawie Roodt is the chief economist and a director at Efficient Group, a financial services company. His career in economic and political analysis spans over 20 years and includes nine years as an economist at the South African Reserve Bank as well as being the economic editor of a financial publication. His academic qualifications include a Master’s degree (cum laude) in economics. Dawie Roodt is known for his extensive knowledge of the South African economy, his analytical nature and exceptional communication skills. He is very efficient at conveying complicated economic information in everyday language. Regular television appearances, broadcasts on radio stations and comments in the printed and electronic media have all contributed to making him one of South Africa’s most quoted economists. Dawie Roodt has received recognition for his achievements in academics, broadcasting and public speaking. He is also a MBA lecturer on macro-economics at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

		John Skelton Topic: Case study: The Capital Hotels approach to innovation and positive change during challenging times Job Title: Chief People Officer, The Capital Apartments & Hotels John is Chief People Officer of the Capital Hotel group. He is synonymous with the group’s culture advancement since 2016. John has extensive knowledge of entrepreneurial cultures through previous positions at Dimension Data & Nandos. John completed his education from Rhodes University in Enterprise Management (post-grad) and Industrial Psychology (under-grad). LinkedIn

		Chantelle Smit-Kotze Topic: Reward insights from across the African continent Job Title: Head of Compensation, Policy & HRIS for Africa, Vivo Energy Chantelle Smit-Kotze is the Head of Compensation, Policy & HRIS for Africa at Vivo Energy. She is responsible for reward & benefit management, performance management, International Mobility, HR information systems and policies across 23 countries and 49 legal entities in Africa, as well as the UK, Netherlands and South Africa . She is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to working for Vivo Energy, Chantelle was the Remuneration & Policy Manager for Shell Oil Products Africa, also based in Cape Town South Africa. Chantelle has a BSc Honours Degree in Psychology, BA Honours Degree in Industrial Psychology (University of Stellenbosch) and a Masters Degree in Industrial Psychology (Theoretical) from the University of the Western Cape. Chantelle loves music, dancing and singing and enjoy being creative. She is also a shopaholic! LinkedIn

		Frédéric Talla Kwetche Topic: Reward insights from across the African continent Job Title: Group Head Rewards, Compensation and Benefits, Ecobank Frédéric is the Group Manager Rewards, Compensation and Benefits at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) in Lomé. His job covers 34 countries on the African continent with representation in France, Dubai, England and South Africa. In his current role, Frédéric develops Rewards, Compensation and Benefits strategies for all the Group's subsidiaries with emphasis on Recognition. LinkedIn

		Blessing Utete Topic: Employee Benefits: Maximising the Employee Value Proposition Job Title: Managing Executive: Old Mutual Corporate Consultants. Blessing has over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry, primarily consulting on the employee benefits needs of corporates and organisations. He has worked as a consultant, principal consultant and branch head at Negotiated Benefits Consultants (NBC) (Pty) Ltd and Alexander Forbes Financial Services. He has previously been the Chief Operations Officer for Discovery’s Group Risk Division. Blessing has had management oversight of the entire operations of the Alexander Forbes Group contact centre, national walk-in facilities and key client servicing teams. More recently, he has held executive positions as Managing Director of Liberty Viewpoint (Pty) Ltd and Executive Director of Momentum Consultants and Actuaries (Pty) Ltd. He is currently the Managing Executive of Old Mutual Corporate Consultants. LinkedIn

		Nicole Wiese Topic: Equity Compensation at Private Firms Job Title: Remuneration & Benefits Manager, JUMO LinkedIn

		Norm Williams Topic: How the World’s Best Brands Use Revolutionary Rewards to Inspire and Engage Employees Job Title: Senior Vice President \| Clients & Brand, BI WORLDWIDE Norm has been working with Fortune Global 500 clients for over 30 years to engage their employees, sales organizations channel partners and consumers. For 29 years, Norm worked in the field at BI WORLDWIDE as a Business Development Director, Regional Vice President and Area Vice President. In his current role, Norm oversees all of BIW’s sales, client services and marketing teams to deliver measurable financial results for some of the world’s most recognizable brands.