Dianne Auld

Dianne Auld is the founding member of Auld Compensation Consulting, an honorary life member of SARA, a SARA GRP faculty member, a member of SARA’s Western Cape Committee and a designated Master Reward Specialist.

She consults globally across all areas of reward and runs a wide range of reward training courses. She is renowned for her Excel Tips columns, and for conducting advanced Excel skills training for compensation professionals across four continents.

Scott Cawood

Dr. Scott Cawood, CCP, GRP, CSCP, CBP, has spent his entire career working to answer a very specific question: How can we make work―and workplaces―better? A self-described “work nerd,” Cawood’s passion for the workplace and how it functions (or not) inspired him to earn degrees in organizational communication, labor and industrial relations, education, and a doctorate degree in organization and work-based learning. Unsurprisingly, he’s forged these disciplines into a singular passion for organizations dedicated to great work. Since 2015, he’s been CEO of the nonprofit member-based association WorldatWork, dedicated to figuring out how to make work and the employee experience better for top organizations across the world. A renowned speaker and presenter, Cawood’s second book, titled The New Work Exchange, quickly became an Amazon bestseller in 2023.  

He worked at a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, United Kingdom, where he was responsible for the South African Rewards Consulting Practice, focusing on remuneration and benefits.

Ray Harraway

Ray has 25 years’ experience, local and international, in reward management, mainly in the FS sector and Big 4 Management Consulting with P&L responsibility.

Winner of the SARA 2022 Presidents Award and the 2019 SARA remuneration reporting award. Founder of the IoDSA Remco forum.

Lunga Mani

Lunga is the Practice Leader for Sub-Saharan Africa and looks after the Johannesburg and Nairobi offices. In this role, he is responsible for growing the Sub-Saharan Africa operations of the firm and ensuring best-in-class immigration services are provided throughout the continent.

Lunga has experience in leadership, people management and strategic and operations optimization. His broad exposure to a variety of environments is an asset to the South Africa practice as it continues to grow.

Quinton Pretorius

Quinton’s expertise stretches across various areas including cultural intelligence, transformation, and leadership. He believes all people, races, and cultures – despite their apparent differences – are driven and inspired by common needs and values and that they will generally respond in similar ways, irrespective of the environment and context they may find themselves in.

As a youth leader in the 90s, Quinton travelled to schools, reformatories, and juvenile centres, discovering the depths of division and imbalance between different segments of society. He soon came to the realisation that when you love someone, something within them changes. It was this realisation that later became the foundation of his subject matter.

Herman Singh

Herman is an innovative business thinker and a high impact player having delivered significant business value in the executive roles that he has operated in. He has an unusual mix of Business, Technology, Leadership and Creative skills that positions him uniquely for roles to lead the march to the new Digital Economy. He is pragmatic and strategic and is both solution focussed and customer centric. A naturally innovative thinker he has led and guided many disruptive businesses in the ongoing convergence of Technology and Business for over 20 years. He is an intuitive strategic thinker, facilitator and advisor and integrates well with cross functional and ethnically diverse teams. As a great and motivational public speaker, Herman is in high demand for conferences and often acts as a keynote speaker for internal company strategy events.

Bianca Valencia

Bianca manages Birches Group’s Marketing Team in Manila. She crafts messaging around Community™ concepts and develops promotional campaigns answering why Community™ should be each organization’s preferred solution, focusing on its simplicity and integrated approach. She has held various roles within Birches Group since 2009, starting as a Compensation Analyst and worked her way to Compensation Team Lead, and Training Program Services Manager. In addition to her current role in marketing and communications, she represents Birches Group in international HR conferences with private sector audiences.

Annabel Bishop

Chief Economist, Investec Bank Limited South Africa

Annabel Bishop joined Investec in 2001 and is the Chief Economist. She has worked in the macroeconomic, econometric, risk, financial markets, political risk, public finance and regulatory, among other, fields for around 25 years. Annabel is the holder of the Sake/Beeld Economist of the Year award for 2010 and has won numerous monthly Reuters Econometer awards, and various Focus Economics (Economic Forecasts from the World’s Leading Economists) categories for correctly forecasting a range of economic variables. She has authored a wide range of in-house and external articles, published both abroad and in South Africa.  She has also guest lectured at Gibbs, the University of Pretoria, Wits, UJ and other academic institutions, and has presented at various national and international conferences. Author of the “Financial Services sector and its support to the economy“ section in the Better Choices Ensuring SA’s Future.

Jonathan Goldberg

Jonathan holds a B. Com degree (Bachelor of Commerce), LL. B (BaccalauretLegum) degree, Honours in Business Administration (HBA) degree (cum laude), Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree (cum laude), 4MAT Instructional Design Training (Michigan University, USA) Chartered Director (SA) Institute of Directors and a Certificate in Business Excellence, Columbia University New York.

Martin Hopkins

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 a member of the South African Reward Association and a Master Reward Specialist.

Prabashini Moodley

Prabashini is a financial services executive and qualified actuary with over 20 years of experience across Old Mutual Limited. Prabashini has been Managing Director of Old Mutual Corporate since November 2019. She is a non-executive director across several boards and is passionate about people and economic development.

Takalani Musekwa

Takalani is an HR and Reward Executive for more than 20 years. He is a Master Reward Specialist registered with The South African Reward Association (SARA).  He graduated from the Universities of Kwazulu-Natal and South Africa and holds a BA Hons in Psychology and Master of Business Leadership degrees. 

Takalani has presented talks at various Conferences on HR and Reward topics. In 2007, he was awarded the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship under the auspices of the African Leadership Institute and Saïd Business School, Oxford University, UK. He is a former member of the ICASA Remuneration Committee (REMCO) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund Board member (2018-2021). Takalani is currently Group Head of Reward for Discovery Ltd.

Nicky Verd

Nicky Verd is an International Keynote Speaker and leading thinker on driving innovation and digital transformation through personal disruption. She is a voice for those who yearn to recreate, reskill and reinvent themselves in the digital era. Nicky Verd is the Author of the hit book “Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted.” She has been recognized by Thinkers360 and Award Magazine as one of the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Tech Influencers on Digital Disruption and the Future of Work.

Leanne Van Wyk

Leanne van Wyk has provided legal services to the financial services industry for over 25 years. She has a Masters in Law. Leanne is and has been, active in a number of industry organisations, including twice past president and honorary member of the Pension Lawyers Association, editor of an international legal journal and committees of the Institute of Retirement Funds Africa. Leanne also represents an industry body at the FSCA’s retirement funds and market conduct committees. Leanne regularly speaks on employee benefit topics at leading international and national conferences as well as providing publications and articles on matters with a legal or regulatory focus. Leanne has fund trustee and principal officer experience. She is currently Head of Legal and Compliance of the Sygnia group of companies.

Mark Bussin

Board member, Professor, Author, Consultant, Pilot, Member of King Committee.

Ross Elmsly

Ross Elmsly is the Head of Solution Advisory at beqom, a leading provider of performance management and compensation solutions. With a decade of experience in beqom, working with global organizations across diverse industries, Ross specializes in helping clients tackle complex challenges related to performance management, compensation, and pay equity. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges, coupled with real world experience of the tools and technologies, to chart the way forward.

Prior to joining beqom, Ross held roles at SAP in Singapore and the UK. 

Ross holds a Masters of Commerce with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland.

Laurence Grubb

Laurence is the MD of Khokhela Remuneration Advisors which focusses on improving the top and bottom line of organisations by partnering with clients to ensure that their remuneration and performance management practices are aligned with their strategy.

Khokhela covers all aspects of remuneration including but not limited to job profiles, job grading, pay benchmarking, pay structuring, cost to company, board pay, short-term and long-term incentive schemes and sales incentive schemes.

Laurence is a member of company boards and remuneration committees and acts as an independent advisor to remuneration committees. Laurence has been interviewed on TV, radio and press about pay issues. He is a SARA Master Reward Specialist, a member of SARA Executive Committee and Chair of the Professionalisation and Accreditation Committees. He is also a member of the IoDSA Remuneration Forum.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson stands out as an acclaimed and award-winning business keynote speaker and facilitator, celebrated for his forward-thinking approach to conferences and events. Specialising in demystifying the future of business, he excels in creating customised, memorable, and highly engaging experiences for his audiences, delivering keynotes that captivate and resonate, globally.

In a business world that evolves at breakneck speed, Jackson is committed to providing timely and pertinent insights. His ability to contextualise the nuances of business change within the dynamic economic landscape empowers attendees with the critical knowledge they need to thrive professionally.

His keynote presentations are meticulously tailored, seamlessly integrating each client’s unique narrative and core messages into content that is not only compelling but also informed by his relentless research, strategic acumen, and keen insight into global trends.

Jackson’s innovative approach to conference engagement is a game-changer. He works intimately with clients to design the content and structure of events, prioritizing audience interaction and ensuring continuous engagement, even post-event. This approach consistently sets new standards in the speaking arena.

Moreover, Jackson’s skills extend beyond keynote speaking. As an adept conference facilitator, he leverages his extensive experience and broadcasting expertise to elevate traditional event formats, deeply engaging his audiences. His comprehensive service package, available at a single daily rate, guarantees his maximum contribution to the success of any event.

Ines Meyer

Prof Ines Meyer has a background in Social Psychology, and she moved into research in Organisational Psychology. Her research seeks to enhance South Africa's chance to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihood. This allows her to combine her research interests with her previous experience as a community development practitioner. She is particularly interested in how work contributes to quality of life and work-life balance for low-income workers.

Lindiwe Sebesho

Lindiwe is a human capital thought leader with extensive  experience in designing and implementing remuneration, incentive, and performance management strategies to enable sustainable business growth.

She is currently the Managing Director (MD) of Old Mutual, Remchannel, South Africa's leading total reward management consultancy. In this role, she leads Remchannel's mission of enabling organisations across various industries to attract and retain top talent through up-to-date information, insights, and advice on remuneration, benefits, and incentive schemes.

She holds the prestigious Master Reward Specialist designation as a professionalised member of the South African Reward Association (SARA), a professional association dedicated to advancing total reward practices in South Africa.

Enthusiastic about making a difference through fair, and responsible pay, Lindiwe has served two (2) terms as the President of SARA and continues to be a member of the organisation’s Executive Committee.