Graeme Codrington Biography

Graeme Codrington is a South African author, futurist and strategy consultant, and a founding director of strategic insights firm, TomorrowToday.

Ferdie Pieterse Biography

Ferdie was appointed as Experian Africa CEO in March 2020 and comes with extensive pan-African experience as an emerging markets executive in numerous C-Suite roles within the financial services sector. Ferdie’s career in the industry began in auditing before moving into financial management and operations in some of our biggest banks. Ferdie is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Certified Information Systems Auditor who holds an Honours Degree in Accounting from the University of South Africa and Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Banking (cum laude). As a resident student, he attended the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School where he completed the Leading Across Boundaries Executive Programme.

Dr Iraj Abedian Biography

Dr Iraj Abedian is a graduate of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and holds a PhD in economics from Simon Fraser University, Canada. He taught at UCT for over 18 years and was a professor of economics at UCT before joining Standard Bank as Group Chief Economist in 2000. He was extensively involved in economic and financial policy as well as institutional restructuring of South Africa’s public finance policy after 1994. Alongside active involvement in private equity investments in Africa, Dr Iraj Abedian maintains a keen interest in public policy issues and is proactively engaged in professional discourses related to the evolving socio-economic system worldwide.

Jaco van Jaarsveldt Biography

Jaco has spent most of his career in the Credit Industry where he held various C-suite roles in listed, non-listed and private equity-owned entities. He has experience in banking, retail, insurance and consulting across all product verticals both locally and internationally. In a career of more than 25 years, Jaco gained extensive experience working in various industries including banking, retail, and insurance across multiple geographies including Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Throughout his career his passion has been driving organisational value through an absolute focus on the customer and customer experience enhancing strategies, making extensive use of big data and advanced analytics to achieve the desired outcomes. In his current role at Experian as Chief Decision Analytics and Innovation Officer, Jaco gets to hone in on his passion of using big data and advanced analytics to deliver customer experience-enhancing strategies.

Mark Wells Biography

Mark joined Experian in February 2015. Prior to that, he spent 20 years in the Information Technology sector running high performing sales teams. As Chief Customer Officer for Experian Africa, his current role involves leading the customer-facing integrated sales teams that engage with clients across all industries in South Africa. Mark holds a BComm (Hons) degree from the University of  the Witwatersrand, an MBA from the University of Cape Town, and post-graduate executive qualifications from Columbia University in New York and Harvard Business School in Boston.

Ryan Strauss Biography

Ryan Strauss is the Head of Analytical Consulting at Experian Africa’s analytics division, Scoresharp. He has extensive experience in scorecard development, credit risk strategies, profit modelling and IFRS9 impairment modelling. He has a passion for using analytics to derive business value and drive strategic decisions. His strong management and leadership skills enable him to build cohesive relationships and develop cross-functional synergy to achieve business goals. During the past 14 years, Ryan has worked as a credit risk professional in the banking and financial services industries. He has worked for two of the major South African banks across multiple secured and unsecured lending portfolios. Ryan holds a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (Cum Laude).

Paul Nel Biography

Paul supports the innovation portfolio at Experian Africa, where the objective is to build new business models alongside partners for consumers and businesses in Africa. Paul has a 24-year corporate career ranging from FMCG through to financial service

Janine West Biography

Janine West joined Experian in May 2021 as the Head of the Privacy Office for Africa. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her 20 year's experience at Investec as well as an LLB from the University of South Africa. Janine is also a Certified Information Professional/Europ (SIPP/E), a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) and a Fellow of the International Association for Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Mzansi Youth Choir Biography

The Mzansi Youth Choir was established in July 2003 with the aim of affording talented, underprivileged teenagers and young adults the opportunity to proficiently perform locally and abroad. The choir consists of on average 50 choristers (13 to 24 years of age) with outstanding musical ability from disadvantaged backgrounds.