Prof Nicola Pless is a leading expert in responsible global leadership and its development. She is currently Professor of Management with University of South Australia and Chair in Positive Business and was formerly Associate Professor at ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

She has authored a number of articles on responsible leadership, its development and the use of international service learning programs published in leading international journals such as Academy of Management Perspectives, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Management Studies.

The Aspen Institute in New York recognized her as one of the world’s leading pioneers in teaching and innovation and to receive multiple awards for my work in responsible leadership.

As a consultant, executive and Vice President in international human resource management, she has worked across a wide range of industries and countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US.

She is an alumna from INSEAD and the University of St. Gallen, where she completed her studies in Clinical Organizational Psychology and hold a PhD in Management.

Prof Jonathan Gosling is Emeritus Professor of Leadership at Exeter University in the UK, and a visiting scholar at other universities including Bled, McGill, Monash, Renmin and UWE. He has taught and researched leadership for over 30 years and is now an independent academic and consultant at Pelumbra.

Current projects include with the Forward Institute promoting responsible leadership in government, NGOs and business; supporting the front-line leadership of HIV and malaria control programs in southern Africa; and running a ‘collaborative mindset’ module for McGill. He represented UK Universities at the Rio+20 UN Sustainability summit and contributes to the ‘greening’ of management education, eg as co-author of the text book Sustainable Business: a one planet approach and co-founder of One Planet Education Networks (OPEN). He worked many years as a community mediator, co-founded Coachingourselves and received the ILA’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2021. He is a keen sailor of fast catamarans and slow cruisers. 

Mr Cas Coovadia is CEO of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and the former Managing Director of The Banking Association SA (BASA). He is the Chairperson of the National Business Initiative. He serves on the Board of the Centre for Development & Enterprise. He is the immediate past President of the International Banking Federation (IBFed). He serves as a Council member of the University of Witwatersrand. He is also on the board of the Nepad Business Foundation. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the CEO Initiative.

Cas obtained his B. Com from the University College - Durban in 1971. He completed the Housing Finance Course with the Wharton Real Estate Centre at the University of Pennsylvania. He also completed the Effective Directors Programme with the Kagiso School of Leadership. He has contributed to numerous articles and publications on housing finance, civil society, local government and the role of civic organisations in governance.

Dr Natasha Winkler-Titus was awarded the 2019 Organizational Psychology Practitioner of the year- South Africa and was awarded Best paper at the 2018 British Academy of management (BAM) Annual conference in Bristol, UK. Natasha believes in using her influence and platforms to empower others toward significance and drive societal change and transformation.

Following a career in Management consulting where she held senior management roles with Rio Tinto and KPMG, she now consults and is the founder of SigniFYER, a body of associates aiming to making change significant for individuals and organisations.

Natasha holds a PhD in Organisational Psychology and is registered with the Health Professions Council South Africa (HPCSA). She serves on the board of the society of work psychologists in SA (SIOPSA) as President and also holds membership of the British academy of management and the European association of Work and organisational psychology. She is a faculty member of the University of Stellenbosch Business school (October 2020) teaching Organizational Behaviour and Leadership, an adjunct faculty member and external examiner for the university of Pretoria, supervise Masters’ research as well as Industrial Psychology Interns. Natasha also serves as International Expert Panellist for the Centre of Global Inclusion. She now lives with her husband in Richards Bay, on the north coast of KZN.

Mias de Klerk is Professor in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour, the head of research at the Stellenbosch University Business School, and the Director of the Centre for Responsible Leadership Studies (Africa). Mias gained 30 years industry experience before joining the Business School full time in 2015, most of it in senior management roles and as an Organisation Development consultant. During this time, he facilitated workshops on all the continents. Mias has also been active in the academic environment for 16 years, amongst others serving as Visiting Professor at the University of the Free State and Associate Professor in industrial psychology at the University in Pretoria.

He has a wide range of academic interests, including leadership, individual behaviour in the organisation, behavioural ethics, system psychodynamics, personal meaning and organisational spirituality. He is a well-known researcher and published his research in many international journals, book chapters and at international conferences.  He holds a degree in engineering, a Masters degree in Business Leadership and a PhD in Organizational Behaviour. Mias lives with his wife Melissa, in Cape Town, and have two daughters who respectively live in the Netherlands and Canada.

Prof Kurt April is currently the endowed Allan Gray Chair, specialising in Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion and Director of the Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town (South Africa, 1998-present), is Adjunct Faculty of Saïd Business School (University of Oxford, UK, 2000-present), and is an Orchestrator & Faculty Member of Duke Corporate Education (Duke University, USA, 2008-present).

Previously, he was a Research Fellow of Ashridge-Hult (UK, 2004-2016), Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University (UK, 2014-2017), Visiting Professor at Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University, Netherlands, 2001-2013), and Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Economics & Econometrics (University of Amsterdam UvA, Netherlands, 2004-2007). Outside of academia, Kurt is the Managing Partner of LICM Consulting (South Africa, 2001-present), Managing Director: Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion Practice at Oxford Acuity (Singapore, 2019-present), Shareholder and Executive Director of the Achievement Awards Group (South Africa, 2007-present), Shareholder of bountiXP (Pty) Ltd (South Africa, 2019-present), as well as Ambassador of the global Unashamedly Ethical movement (2016-present).

He plays a range of roles and consults to many companies and organisations around the globe, having worked in 24 countries. He has published 215 academic articles/book chapters/conference papers/reports/op-eds/dissertations, and written 11 books.

Professor Derick de Jongh is the Founding Director of The Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute (ALLI). He also founded the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (ALCRL) at the University of Pretoria in 2010. He holds a B Com, B Com (Hons) and an M Com (all cum laude) as well as a Doctorate in Commerce (Corporate Social Performance). He founded the Centre for Corporate Citizenship (CCC) at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2001.

He is a former Visiting Professor at institutions such as the Zeppelin University Leadership Excellence Institute (Germany), Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University, Canada and at the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith University, Australia where he serves as Adjunct Professor. Over the years, he has carried out several research assignments and published in refereed journals with special focus on CSR, corporate responsibility and responsible leadership.

Derick serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including the International Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal, The Journal of Global Responsibility and the Journal for Innovation and Sustainable Development.

He serves on various committees that focus on developing the next generation responsible leaders. Derick is founding member of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) as well as a founding member of the 50+20 “Management Education for the World” initiative. Derick is a former member of the World Business School Council for Sustainable Business – a UN PRME, GRLI initiative.

Under his leadership the South African Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Hub as well as the SDG Policy Initiative was established. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) also resides within the ALLI under the leadership of Prof de Jongh.

John North is an integrative entrepreneur operating across the boundaries of society, business and education. Following an international strategy consulting career which included founding Accenture's sustainability practice in Ireland, his passion to make a difference in his home country brought him back to South Africa where he combines local advisory work with an international role at the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative. John is one of the lead contributors to the 50+20 vision "Management Education for the World" and directs the design and delivery of the Deans Cohort. John and his family live in the Garden Route of South Africa.

The GRLI exists to catalyse the development of globally responsible leadership and practice in organisations and societies worldwide. It is the leading incubator for innovation and new practice in business schools and for collaboration with business in the space of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability.

We bring together an international multi-sector community – leaders, practitioners, professionals, academics and the next generation – to create awareness of the need and urgency for responsible global action and to equip individuals, organizations and societies to respond to this call. Founded in 2004 by EFMD and the UN Global Compact, today it comprises 70 partner (member) organisations who join based on their commitment to transforming leadership development. Since GRLI’s inception, our partners and members have worked collectively to support transformation in management education and business towards global responsibility.

Piet Naude is Professor of Ethics and immediate past Director of USB. He is currently a Director of the EFMD Quality Services and has just published Contemporary Management Education. Eight questions that will shape its future in the 21st century (Springer).

Prof Naudé received all his qualifications, including a doctorate in theology and a master's degree in philosophy, cum laude at Stellenbosch. He has been a professor extraordinaire at Stellenbosch since 2012.

Prof Naudé was involved with the former UPE and NMMU since 1992 where he was Dean of the Arts Faculty. Between 2008 and 2011 he was the first full-time director of the NMMU Business School before he became vice-rector and a member of the executive management of NMMU. In his earlier career he was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.

He is a highly rated researcher and has published more than 100 articles in academic journals.

He is a member of a number of academic societies. He is currently the African representative on the executive committee of the International Society for Business Economics and Ethics (ISBEE) and a board member of EthicsSA. He is the past president of the Business Ethics Network of Africa (BEN-Africa), where he led partnerships in 21 African countries.

Prof Naudé has received numerous awards nationally and internationally. He is an active public and conference speaker, a consultant on value-driven organisations to many national companies, and a column writer for the last decade. In 2011, he was named the Vodacom Journalist of the Year.

Prof. Dr. Josef Wieland is professor of Institutional Economics, Organisational Governance, Integrity Management & Transcultural Leadership at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and Director of the Leadership Excellence Institute Zeppelin (LEIZ).

Prof. Wieland has been an expert in the field of Compliance and Business Ethics for more than 20 years: He has been adviser and compliance monitor for the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank; he has conceptualized, implemented and audited the Integrity & Compliance Management System and a Compliance Management Standard in numerous German and international companies including the Bavarian Construction Industry, the Corporate Governance Initiative of the German Real Estate Industry as well as in numerous SME.

He has been awarded the Max Weber Prize for Business Ethics of the “Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft“ (German Economic Institute).Cologne 1999 and the Prize for Applied Research (“Preis für Angewandte Forschung”) (which is the most highly doted award with 100.000 euros) of Baden-Württemberg in 2004.

Enase Okonedo, is a professor of management and currently the Vice-chancellor of Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. Prior to that she served as dean of Lagos Business School (LBS) for 11 years from July 2009 until December 2020 where she was instrumental in transforming Lagos Business School to a globally recognized and a foremost business school in Africa gaining global recognitions and rankings.

Trained as an accountant, she has over 30 years' experience in the financial services and management education sectors.  She serves on the boards of the Global Business School Network (GBSN), Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME) and the Academic Advisory Board of Blatnavik School of Government, University of Oxford as well as other corporate boards in banking, telecommunication and power sectors.

She has also previously served on the board of Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and held leadership positions on the boards of AACSB International as Secretary-Treasurer, and the Association of African Business Schools as Chairperson.

Professor Okonedo is the President of AIFA Reading Society – a society committed to achieving sustainable education in Africa by promoting and supporting a reading culture; and a member of the Panel of Advisors, Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG).

Prof. Dima Jamali is currently serving as Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Sharjah, UAE.

She served as Tenured Professor and Associate Dean for the Olayan School of Business (OSB) and Director for Strategic Partnerships for the American University of Beirut (AUB). In 2015, she has founded and served as President and National Representative for the UN Global Compact Network Lebanon (GCNL), a network of businesses committed to advancing Sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Lebanon. She has a PhD in Social Policy and Administration, from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, a Masters in Sociology from San Jose State University, CA and a BA in Public Administration from AUB, Lebanon. Her research and teaching revolve primarily around Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Social Entrepreneurship (SE) and Family Business. She is the author/editor of seven books which are highly circulated and cited on an international scale.

She is the winner of numerous awards and was recently made it to the Stanford list of the top 2% most influential scholars globally for two consecutive years being recognized as a unique and highly ranked talent in her field.

She worked as an expert consultant for the United Nations on Social Policy and CSR as well as various projects funded by the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, and major private and public firms across the region.  For the past five years, she has been championing the UN Global Compact Network for Lebanon and working with leading firms from the private sector to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UN 2030 agenda in Lebanon through practical national social and environmental projects.

Prof. Willem Fourie is an Associate Professor at the University of Pretoria. In this role, he has published peer-reviewed research in a range of disciplines, provided high-level development policy advice on national and continental levels and he has managed complex multi-stakeholder projects successfully. He is passionate about the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and loves to cross-disciplinary and sectoral boundaries.

As project manager, Professor Fourie has designed and managed several high-level projects. Most recently, he founded the South African SDG Hub, a national facility aimed at promoting SDG evidence-informed policymaking in South Africa. It is hosted by the University of Pretoria and supported by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation. He also acts as founding Programme Director of the newly established Master’s in Development Practice. He also helps oversee an SDG policy advisory project in partnership with the South African and German governments. Additionally, he founded and run a leading multidisciplinary degree programme on the SDGs.

He has worked with the United Nations, African Union and European Union on matters related to the achievement of the SDGs and Agenda 2063 and I serve on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Sustainability Advisory Committee. His research focuses on the leadership capabilities needed to achieve complex agendas such as the SDGs.

Dr Shirley Zinn is the former Group Head of Human Resources at Woolworths Holdings Limited. Prior to this, she was the Head of Human Resources of Standard Bank. She also was head of HR at Nedbank, SARS, and Reckitt Benckiser (Africa & Middle East).  She was also an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Human Resource Management, and former Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town.

She hails from the Cape Flats in Cape Town, and started her career as a secondary school teacher of English, then moved to the University of the Western Cape where she lectured in Teacher Education. She currently serves as an independent non-executive director on several JSE listed Boards (Sanlam, MTN-SA, SpurCorp). She also served on the UCT Council and is the Past President for the Harvard Alumni Association, South Africa. She is also the Chairperson of the V&A Waterfront.

In 2015, she wrote her autobiography entitled “Swimming Upstream” which focuses on her personal and professional journey.  She holds a BA (University of the Western Cape); Higher Diploma in Education (University of the Western Cape); B.Ed Honours (UNISA); M.Ed (University of the Western Cape); Ed.M  (Harvard), and Doctorate in Education (Ed.D) (Harvard).

She has been awarded several Top Women in Business and Government awards. She also completed her ninth Two Oceans Half Marathon in March 2018.

Shameela Ebrahim is the Chief Sustainability Officer of the JSE. She joined the JSE in 2007. Passionate about the systemic importance of sustainability thinking in corporate strategy, she is responsible for advising the Executive Committee and Board of the JSE Limited on sustainability and the integration into strategy. She is the immediate past chair of the World Federation of Exchange’s (global) Sustainability Working Group, a member of the Strategy Group of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD), and chair of the Sustainable Finance Working Group of National Treasury.

Her responsibilities for Sustainability at the JSE include the FTSE JSE Responsible Investment Index series. She represents the JSE on various industry advisory panels related to sustainability, responsible investing and climate change internationally. As a sustainability specialist she has, inter alia, been a key contributor to the JSE’s work into climate change, the potential for a local market to trade in carbon credits and environment-related products, the development of a Green, Social and Sustainability bonds framework, impact investing, the JSE’s sustainability, innovation and CSI strategies as well as the annual sustainability investor briefing/showcase sessions.

She is a non-executive director of the WWF (South Africa), and of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

She is the winner of the SERAS Africa CSR/Sustainability Professional 2021 and the IRMSA  ESG Sustainability Professional 2020 awards. Her previous experience includes senior roles in the banking and insurance industries, and she was the JSE’s senior manager of strategy prior to assuming responsibility for the Sustainability portfolio. She is a popular speaker at local and global events and a regular contributor to media articles.

Shameela completed a Master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership (MSt) at the University of Cambridge and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Pretoria, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). She is a recipient of the Chevening and Mansion House scholarships and is a member of the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa (IoDSA).

Ms Namhla Mniki is a global development strategist leading African Monitor, an entity working to eradicate poverty, to create economic opportunities, and to empower African citizens to drive the achievement of sustainable development in Africa.

Ms. Mniki specialises in citizen-centric approaches to development that promote accountable leadership and good governance.  Her latest work focusses on increasing knowledge of, and building capacity for co-creation and collaboration across sectors to implement the SDGs. She has a strong belief that a new paradigm of development delivery can benefit the world, focusing on innovation, collaboration, multi-sectoralism, co-creation, and broad participation.  She is a Patron for the Africa Youth SDGs Summit, a Global Peer Review Expert for the German Sustainability Strategy, and a member of the expert group for the Africa Progress Group,

Namhla is also a leadership strategist, supporting emerging leaders in Africa to leverage their personal power, values and skills to transform their work environments, their communities and Africa.  Through her social enterprise KB Media & Communications, she runs value-based leadership coaching programmes, as well as high-impact development campaigns across Africa, including the BigSisAfrica programme..