Welcome to the
GEPF Thought Leadership Conference 2024

Musa Mabesa

Musa Mabesa (ACCA) is the Principal Executive Officer (PEO) of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). He is a seasoned finance professional with over 17 years’ experience, 10 of which is in the pension fund industry, specialising in financial management and reporting, governance and corporate services.

Prior to joining the GEPF, Mr Mabesa worked for various private and public sector institutions in various positions. In 2011 he joined the GEPF as a Finance Manager and was subsequently appointed as Head of Corporate Services in 2017. In 2020 Mr Mabesa became the Principal Executive Officer of the GEPF.

Mr Mabesa holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree from University of London and Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting Science (BCompt) from University of South Africa (UNISA). He is a Chartered Certified Accountant through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and is a member of the Institute of Directors Southern Africa.

Sifiso Sibiya

Sifiso Sibiya is the Head of Investments at the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).

Mr. Sibiya has 13 years of experience within financial services, specialising in investments, financial risk management and employee benefits. Prior to joining the GEPF; Mr. Sibiya worked at Alexander Forbes as an Investments Actuary and led the Actuarial Investments function. He also worked at Deloitte Financial Services Advisory as an Actuarial Manager.

He holds Honours degree in Mathematical Statistics and a degree in Actuarial Science from the University of the Witwatersrand and he is currently finalising his Master’s degree in Finance and Investments. Mr. Sibiya is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, a Charter Enterprise Risk Actuary and a CAIA Charterholder.

Sebastien Betermier

Sebastien Betermier is the Executive Director of the International Centre for Pension Management, and an Associate Professor of Finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. His research focuses on risk and return, portfolio management and asset pricing, pension funds and retirement systems, household finance, and sustainable finance. His work appears in top finance journals and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Bloomberg among others.

Professor Betermier teaches Applied Investments and Pension Funds and Retirement Systems at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been recognized repeatedly through nominations for teaching excellence which includes receiving the Desautels Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016 and 2020 and coaching the winning team of the PRMIA international risk management challenge in 2016, 2017, and 2019. He was named one of the World’s Best 40 under 40 Business School Professors by Poets and Quants in 2017.

Professor Betermier holds a PhD in Finance from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. He also serves as Faculty Director of the McGill International Portfolio Challenge and is a member of the Research Policy Network on Household Finance at the Center for Economic Policy Research. He was born in France and grew up in Paris and San Francisco.

Brian Karidza

Brian Karidza is the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) Head of benefits and actuarial. Brian is a qualified actuary with over 10 years of experience in pension fund valuations and employee benefits consulting. Brian holds a Bsc (Hons) degree in Actuarial Science from the University of the Wits Watersrand. He is a Fellow of both the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Brian also holds a Certified Enterprise Risk Actuary qualification. He was awarded a certificate in Data Science by the University of Southampton (in collaboration with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries) as well as a Data Science certificate from the University of Cape Town.

Dondo Mogajane

Dondo Mogajane is the Chairperson of the GEPF & Chief Executive Officer of Moti Group.

Mr. Mogajane joined National Treasury in 1999 as a Deputy Director and has worked in various areas including among others, the Intergovernmental Relations, Provincial Budget Analysis and the International Economic Relations divisions. Between 2007 and 2010, he represented South Africa at the Executive Board of the World Bank as senior advisor for Africa Group 1 countries.

Between 2010 and May 2014, Mr. Mogajane was appointed as the Chief of Staff in the Ministry of Finance and later as the acting Chief Operating Officer from May 2014 until May 2015. He was later appointed Deputy Director-General responsible for the Public Finance division at National Treasury a position he occupied since June 2015.

Following a request by former DG Lungisa Fuzile to shorten his contract to end in May 2017 instead of May 2018, Mr. Mogajane was appointed as Director-General of the National Treasury in June 2017.

Prior to his appointment at the National Treasury, Mr. Mogajane was a Student Housing Manager and part-time lecturer at Durban Westville University. He was also lecturer in Public Management at Technikon SA and ML Sultan Technikon and Deputy Director at Environmental and Development Agency Trust.

Mr. Mogajane has two honours degrees in Public Management and Human Resources and Industrial Relations obtained at the University of Durban Westville. He also completed a Master’s degree in Public Management at the University of Maryland (USA), a Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School and a Programme in Budgeting and Public Financial Management at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Dr. Thomas Post

I am Associate Professor of Finance at Maastricht University and Open University, and affiliated with Netspar. My research focuses on behavioral household finance. I am interested in (1) understanding households’ financial decisions (e.g., saving, asset allocation, trading, and annuitization decisions) and (2) designing nudges and interventions to change households’ financial decisions (e.g., pension communication, product design).

With this approach I aim to cover the complete financial decisions-making journey across the life cycle, starting from engagement (collecting information, planning), accumulating savings (how much and where to invest), and finally the decumulation of pension assets.

Laurent Barras

Laurent Barras conducts empirical research on asset management and asset pricing. His research covers a broad range of topics including mutual and hedge fund performance, stock return predictability, and the pricing of uncertainty risk in financial markets. His work has appeared in leading academic journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics), and has been cited in several international newspapers (New York Times, Forbes). Laurent Barras received a PhD degree in Finance from the Swiss Finance Institute at the University of Geneva. Prior to joining the University of Luxembourg, he was an Associate Professor at McGill University, where he received the Faculty Desmarais award for research excellence and the best teacher award in the Master program.

Mark Colegate

Editorial Director, Asset TV

Mark Has worked as a journalist covering financial services since 1995. He started out on trade publications, winning the Golden Pen Best Newcomer Award in 1996 and Autif Trade Journalist of The Year Award in 1998. He also freelanced for the national press, writing a regular column in the Mail on Sunday’s personal finance section. He subsequently edited numerous titles, covering investment funds, structured products, tax, pensions in both the UK and Europe. In 2008 he joined Asset.tv, developing programme formats and interviewing many of the country’s leading fund managers, fund selectors and asset owners. His professional qualifications include the UK Financial Planning Certificate and the Investment Management Certificate

Britt Hoffmann Jones

Head of DC and Retirement Solutions
Britt is Head of DC and Retirement Solutions within Schroders Solutions. She has a multi-faceted background spanning defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) pensions, investment strategy, and proposition development. Britt was Head of UK DC Pensions at River and Mercantile (R&M) from 2011. After a planned career break in 2015 to have her daughter, Britt returned to the industry as Head of Proposition Development at PTL, where she worked closely with the board to further develop the firm’s diversification strategy in light of market trends – in particular consolidation. Britt returned to R&M in early 2021 to head corporate strategy for the DC business, and to lead proposition development, with a focus on the consolidation and Master Trust market. R&M was subsequently acquired by Schroders in February 2022 and Britt continued her focus on DC pensions, but with a global scope, and a more acute focus on the market trends of consolidation and DC/ wealth integration. She has a particular passion for innovation and technology driven solutions.

Anne Simpson

Global Head of Sustainability Franklin Templeton Companies LLC California, United States
Anne Simpson is Global Head of Sustainability for Franklin Templeton, reporting to the President and CEO. In this newly created role, Ms. Simpson is responsible for driving the company’s strategic direction on stewardship, sustainability and ESG investment strategy globally, while fostering best practices within the firm’s autonomous specialist investment managers. She serves as the firm’s primary spokesperson on matters related to sustainability and participates in industry engagement initiatives and advocacy activities with policy makers and regulators.
Ms. Simpson joined the firm in 2022, bringing over 35 years of sustainable investment and academic expertise as well as extensive experience in the international regulatory and policy arena. She is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University appointed by the Chancellor and teaches at University of California, Berkeley Haas Business School as a Lecturer in Sustainable and Impact Finance. In addition, Ms. Simpson is an advisory council member for the Official Monetary Financial Institutions Forum, a board member at Ceres, serves on the Leadership Council for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and on the steering committee of Climate Action 100+. She has previously served on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Investor Advisory Group and the International Financial Reporting Standards Advisory Council.
Prior to joining FT, Ms. Simpson was with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the largest asset owners in the world, where she served as Managing Investment Director for Board Governance & Sustainability, leading the development and execution of CalPERS’ award-winning Sustainable Investment Strategy across a global portfolio of US$500 bn with 80% assets internally managed. At CalPERS, Ms. Simpson served as a member of its Investment Management Committee, which determines asset liability management, capital allocation, risk management and operations across global public equity, fixed income, private equity, private credit, real assets and infrastructure. In addition, she served as the inaugural Chair of Climate Action 100+ and its Asia Advisory Group, a global investor alliance of US$60 trillion which CalPERS convened and co-founded. Ms. Simpson also led the CalPERS investment office diversity, equity and inclusion business initiative, including the founding of 3D (Diverse Director DataSource). Prior to joining CalPERS, she was a Sr Faculty Fellow and Lecturer at the Yale School of Management, Head of the Global Corporate Governance Forum at the World Bank, Executive Director of the International Corporate Governance Network and Joint Managing Director of Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) Ltd.
In 2019, Time Magazine named Ms. Simpson as one of the 15 women leading the global fight on climate change. In 2020, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance by Barron’s. For 12 consecutive years from 2010-22, she has been ranked by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the year’s 100 most influential people in the boardroom. Simpson has published several books in the field, including, most recently, “The Financial Ecosystem: The Role of Finance in Achieving Sustainability” with Satyajit Bose and Dong Guo of Columbia University (Palgrave MacMillan), and “Fair Shares: The Future of Shareholder Power and Responsibility” with Jonathan Charkham (Oxford University Press).
She graduated from Oxford University in the United Kingdom, where she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and was a Slater Fellow at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.

Dipak Patel

Dipak joined the South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) in June 2021 as Head: Climate Finance and Innovation. He leads the team in its work in the areas of climate finance mapping, financing a just transition and developing a strategy for financing the pathway to a net-zero emissions target for 2050.
The PCC was established, and is chaired by, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa. It is mandated to advise on all aspects of South Africa’s climate change response.
Dipak is a non-executive director on the Board of Transnet.
Prior to joining the PCC, Dipak was Special Advisor to the Minister of Public Enterprises, from 2018 to 2020. In this capacity he was an integral part of the Minister’s Office, developing strategic and financial programmes for state owned enterprises. He was also integral to the process of determining a state- wide framework for the financial and governance management of all state- owned enterprises.
Dipak is a chemical engineer, and a qualified artisanal brewer, with a MSc in Development Economics (University of London) and an MBA (University of the Witwatersrand)
He worked in various technical, production management and capital development roles at South African Breweries from 1985 to 1993.
Soon after South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994, Dipak chaired the National Taxi Task Team, a Ministerial task team, and was appointed was as Director-General of the National Department of Transport in 1998.
Dipak worked at Standard Bank (2002 – 2012), in various capacities in investment banking, becoming global head of Structured and Project Finance, as well as Global Head of transactional products. He served on the group credit and investment committees.
Between 2012 and 2018, Dipak operated his own financial and investment management and trading enterprise, based in New York.

Gautam Bhardwaj

Gautam Bhardwaj is a co-founder of pinBox Solutions, a Singapore and India based global social pensionTech and expert advisory firm committed to digital micro-pension inclusion in Africa and Asia.
Between 1998 and 2010, he led an expert team that helped the Indian Government design and roll out the National Pension System (NPS) that today has roughly 40 million subscribers and an AUM of over US$125 billion. In 2017 and 2018, he led a multi-disciplinary pinBox team that helped the Government of Rwanda to design, build and implement Ejo Heza LTSS — Africa’s first government sponsored digital micro-pension system — that today has around 3 million voluntary subscribers (half of whom are women).
In 2006, Gautam established a micro-pension social enterprise in India that helped over 2.5 million self-employed women to start saving for their old age. He has led several World Bank, ADB, UNCDF and FSD/UKAID funded feasibility studies on digital micro-pension inclusion in Asia and Africa. He has also served on several government and regulatory committees on pension, tax and financial sector reforms.

Janina Slawski

Head: Investments Consulting
Qualifications: MBusSci (Actuarial Science), FFA, FASSA, CFA, FRM, CERA, CAIA
Janina has an MBusSc degree from the University of Cape Town and has actuarial (Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries and Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa), investments (Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) and risk (Financial Risk Manager and Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary) qualifications.
She has worked in the fields of life insurance and risk benefits, employee benefits, asset consulting, short term insurance and risk management, and investments, including distribution, marketing and advisory activities.
She was President of the Actuarial Society of South Africa from 2003 to 2005, and Overseas Vice-President of the Faculty of Actuaries from 2006 to 2009. Her current responsibilities include providing investment advice to a portfolio of large clients, and heading the client-facing teams across Alexander Forbes multi-management solutions and investments advisory.

Michael Jordaan

The former FNB CEO now heads up a private investment company, Montegray Capital, investing in disruptive businessmodelsenabled by technology. Michael invests in and lends a strategic hand to various businesses such as the 5G data network rain, chairs mobile challenger Bank Zero and is chairman of the SA SME Fund Investment Committee, the largest Venture Capital Fund in South Africa. He is also co-founder of AI Capital, a private equity partnership that invests in high-performing entrepreneurial teams across the globe.

Muitheri Wahome

Muitheri Wahome is the founder of the Asset Management Research Institute. She is the author of Building Capital – a history of asset management in South Africa. Wahome is a financial services professional with 27 years of experience and has a deep interest in financial inclusion and the history and lore of the asset management industry in South Africa in the global context. After starting out in 1997 as an insurance sector analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet, Wahome joined Alexander Forbes Asset Consultants in 2001, where she held several consulting and investment positions over a 17-year career including head of manager research, head of performance surveys, until she was appointed head of the division in 2008. Wahome later joined Alexander Forbes Investments (previously Investment Solutions) as head of technical solutions, going on to serve as chief client officer of the firm. Early in her career, she developed and launched the first institutional specialist equity survey in South Africa.Wahome has been recognised as a top investment consultant and investment analyst by the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals, in the Financial Mail, and Reuters. She has been a member of the Financial Services Board Collective Investment Schemes Control Act (CISCA) advisory board and an independent expert witness to the PIC Commission of Inquiry. She holds a BCom (Hons) from the University of Nairobi and an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and an investment committee member for the University of the Free State, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. She also has experience sitting on pension fund trustee boards and as an independent non-executive director on financial services company boards. Wahome loves art and has served as a docent at the Wits Art Museum.

Natalie Kolbe

Natalie Kolbe is the Managing Partner of Norrsken22, responsible for the overall management of the Fund, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Natalie brings a wealth of growth investing experience to Norrsken22, having spent 19 years at Actis – one of the leading private equity firms focused on the Emerging Markets. At Actis, Natalie was Global Head of Private Equity responsible for c. USD $5 billion of AUM across 8 funds.

Paul Brendan Hanratty

Over 30 years’ experience in insurance, asset management, wealth management and banking in Africa, Europe, the UK, the USA and India. Served as Chairman and CEO of a number of UK, European and South African financial services businesses, as well as a non-executive director of a number of financial services businesses and a major listed telecoms company. On 1 July 2020 he was appointed as CEO of Sanlam Limited. An actuary by profession, his interests include golf, cycling and travel. He is married and has 3 children.

Prabashini Moodley

Managing Director: Old Mutual Corporate
Prabashini is an experienced financial services executive and qualified actuary. She has over 20 years of experience across Old Mutual Limited spanning various markets and functions. Prabashini has been Managing Director of Old Mutual Corporate since November 2019.
Prior to this she was Chief Financial Officer of the Old Mutual Mass and Foundation Cluster. In recent years’ she has developed her leadership capabilities through leading teams and change initiatives as well as mentorship of young professionals.
She is the Group Executive Committee sponsor of the actuarial professionals within Old Mutual and is also a non-executive director across a number of boards.
When not working she enjoys spending quality time with family and close friends, and travelling to new places and learning about different cultures, which she has fortunately been able to re-start this year.

Prof Alex van den Heever

Prof Alex van den Heever (MA economics from the University of Cape Town) holds the Chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at the Wits School of Governance. He has worked in the areas of health economics, public finance, governance and social security since 1989. His work largely focuses on strategic policy research for social security and health systems.
Professionally He has worked for the Department of Finance (which now forms part of National Treasury), the Industrial Development Corporation, the Centre for Health Policy (WITS), the Gauteng Department of Health, Deloitte & Touche and the Council for Medical Schemes. He has also formed part of various inquiries in the fields of health and social security including the Malamet Commission on Medical Schemes, the Taylor Committee of Inquiry into Comprehensive Social Security, the Ministerial Task team on Social Health Insurance, the Health Market Inquiry. He has also chaired two expert panel investigations into a basic income support grant for South Africa supported by the International Labour Office.
He has also served on various official bodies, including the Council for Medica Schemes and the Medicines Pricing Committee.

Stephen Walker

Stephen Walker is a consulting actuary with a passion for pensions, he heads the Old Mutual Corporate Consultants actuarial team. Stephen is the current chairperson of the Actuarial Society’s pensions practice committee and is also a member of the Actuarial Society’s social security and retirement reform working group. He consults to retirement funds in a number of sub-Saharan African countries.

Tshepiso Kobile

Tshepiso hails from a financial services background, having served as an investment professional with the Development Bank of Southern Africa and as a property finance manager with Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking.

Through her involvement in both the public and private sectors, she has gained unique skills in senior management roles, representing various players along the property value chain and structuring partnership agreements for funding of large property development and bulk infrastructure. Prior to joining SAVCA, she served as a Senior Programme Manager for Catalytic Projects in the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, Chairperson of SAIBPP KZN (as well as Board Member), a member of SAPOA Regional Council, and a representative for Business in the KZN Economic Council’s Infrastructure Task Team.

She has served on the National Housing Finance Corporation’s Board, Credit and Investment Committee, as well as Social and Ethics Committees.

She holds a BSc (Honours) Degree in Property Studies from the University of Cape Town and a Diploma in Company Direction (IoD UK) – the second steps towards achieving Chartered Director status.

Thiru Pather

Principal
The SA SME Fund

Thiru is a Principal at the SA SME Fund, a fund set up with the broad objective of creating and developing entrepreneurs. She is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has over 18 years of Venture Capital, Private Equity and Corporate Finance experience. Prior to joining the SA SME Fund, Thiru was a Fund Principal at the Public Investment Corporation where she was Head of the Fund of Funds division. In addition to her executive role at the SA SME Fund, Thiru is the Chairperson of the SAVCA VC Sub-Committee and is an independent IC member of the 27four Black Business Growth Fund II.

Jason Suares

Jason Suares, Director, is a member of the Aladdin Business Development team within the Aladdin Client Business, based in Dubai. Mr. Suares engages with prospective clients to assess their needs and determine appropriate risk reporting, analytics and investment platform solutions via the Aladdin & eFront platform.Prior to this role Mr. Suares worked within the Portfolio Analytics Group (PAG) within BlackRock Solutions and was responsible for the delivery of fundamental and index equity analytic solutions to BlackRock’s investment teams. Prior to this, Mr Suares supported the BlackRock Multi-Asset Client Solutions business.

Mr Suares earned a BSc degree in Economics & Management from the University of Southampton in 2010.

Tryphosa Ramano

Tryphosa Ramano is a qualified and registered Chartered Accountant (CA) with extensive experience in the financial services and various other key economic sectors. Tryphosa boasts a Bachelor of Commerce Degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Cape Town. She has made and continues to make a significant contribution in the public sector, banking and financial services, mining, manufacturing and aviation industries through the various leadership and management roles.

Tryphosa is a gender activist with a passion for uplifting women and youth. Currently Tryphosa Ramano is self-employed as a consultant and serves as board member for the Solidarity Fund, Eskom HOLDINGS, Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and South African Reserve Bank amongst others. During her tenure at PPC as CFO (2011-2019), Tryphosa played a critical role in the company’s expansion into the African Continent, specifically in Zimbabwe, Botswana, DR Congo, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. As an executive responsible for overall oversight and monitoring of the company’s financial performance and balance sheet, Tryphosa ensured that these investments did not have adverse impact on the financial performance and sustainability of the PPC Group. This was achieved through such measures as market capitalisation of the business.

Prior to joining PPC, Tryphosa occupied senior executive positions and directorships in key strategic companies and South African government in National Treasury. Her previous executive positions are as follows; CFO for WIPHOLD and CFO for SAA. Her previous directorships are as follows; ACSA, Adcorp, Sasria, SAA, Landbank, DBSA, Board of Auditors at African Union, PPC Ltd, USB-ED, SA Express Ltd, PPC subsidiaries outside of South Africa, chairperson of Black Business Council as well as former President of Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP), African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) and Young Leaders Connect (YLC).

Benjamin Versluijs

Senior Vice President – Northern Trust

Benjamin started his career with Northern Trust in 2018. In the period since, he has contributed to some of the larger strategic projects in the EMEA region. In this role, he supports institutional parties, with an explicit focus towards pensions and their transitioning market requirements.

Benjamin has been active in the financial industry since 2003, enjoying the entire span in the Asset Servicing segment. Before he joined Northern Trust, he held various commercial and relationship functions at financial institutions and the local depositories of Euroclear in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, as well as their headquarter Euroclear Bank in Brussels.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

As a dedicated partner to the society, Benjamin is active in various philantopic taskforces. In addition, he maintains a voluntary seat as a Board Member of non profit organisation associated to the Rotterdam Zoo.

Isaah Mhlanga

Isaah Mhlanga is the Chief Economist and Head of Global Markets Research and member of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Global Markets Exco. He leads a team of economists, analysts and strategists covering macroeconomics, fixed income, currencies, commodities and credit across South Africa and several key African countries to serve the bank and its institutional and corporate clients. He drives research client strategy in collaboration with sales, trading and the broader teams within RMB.

Prior to this, Isaah was the Executive Chief Economist at Alexforbes, a member of Alexforbes Investments Exco, the Asset Allocation and Investment Committees. He has prior experience as a macroeconomist at Absa Capital, senior economist at the National Treasury, having started his career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund local office in Pretoria.

His passion for education has seen him lecture undergraduate mathematical and financial economics at the University of Johannesburg in the past, and currently serve as a Trustee of Study Trust and non-executive board member of Kutlwanong Centre for Maths, Science and Technology, both of which are entities that contribute in the development of critical skills among previously disadvantaged communities. He is a Fellow of the GIBS Center for Africa Management and Markets and Economic Research of Southern Africa, as well as a regular columnist for major local business publications.

Musa Malwandla

Musa Malwandla is a finance professional with 12 years of experience, holding a PhD in Finance and an MSc in Statistics. He is a top-rated analyst in the insurance sector, skilled in data science, credit risk modelling, actuarial analysis, and financial modelling. He has extensive experience in model development, data science, and leading teams in the delivery of complex analytics projects in finance and banking.

Musa serves as Co-CIO at a Differential Capital, where he is responsible for artificial intelligence and data science in the investment process.

Geraldine Fowler

IRFA President

Current Institute of Retirement Funds Africa President Geraldine Fowler is acknowledged as a thought leader and innovator in the retirement sector. A committed volunteer she has served and represented the industry for many years in her various leadership roles within the Institute. In addition, she is a regular speaker at local and international conferences and events and has sat as a High Court expert witness on industry related matters.

Geraldine is a qualified Certified Financial Planner and a Professional Executive Principal Officer. She also holds various qualifications in insurance and business studies as well as a qualification in the art of writing.

With over 35 years’ experience in the retirement funds industry in the areas of administration, consulting and trusteeship Geraldine is the founding director and CEO of GQM Fund Administrators.

She is passionate about the contribution the retirement sector can make in improving socio-economic conditions and on the issues surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion.

Anne Cabot-Alletzhauser

Anne is Adjunct Faculty at the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences and the Practice Director and Co-Founder of GIBS’s  Responsible Finance Initiative. It’s a role that perfectly combines her professional skills: 40 years in asset management and finance – with her academic training and passion: Developmental Anthropology. The question she has been grappling with for the past 10 years is “How can we rethink finance and the financial services industry to create more meaningful outcomes for developing economies?” The Responsible Finance Initiative argues that there needs to be a radical shift in the structure of our capital markets and financial ecosystems if we are going to address the issues of inequality and social mobility head-on.

More recently her research at the RFI has focused on the issue of whether the redeployment of investments or financial incentives to achieve specific social, environmental and economic development ends are actually meeting their expected outcomes. This research has examined a broad spectrum of initiatives from Sustainable, ESG and Infrastructure Investing, Climate Change initiatives, the funding of Enterprise and Supply Development programmes by corporates to achieve transformation credibility, and gender equality transformation initiatives. This research, and the courses that accompany the research, highlight why these initiatives are failing to deliver to expectations. She addresses what can be done to derive more meaningful outcomes.

Her most important on-going research, though, focuses extensively on how both South Africa and Africa’s current pension fund models and financial planning frameworks could be restructured to more effectively deal with the social protection and social mobility requirements of South Africans.

Before co-founding the RFI, Anne headed up the Alexander Forbes Research Institute – an initiative that looks at the full spectrum of savings, investment and wellness issues that confront South Africans in particular and Africans in general.

Anne also spent 32 years managing pension fund assets in North America, Japan, the UK, Europe and South Africa. In 1992, she moved to South Africa and pioneered the development of the multi-manager management approach of pension fund management that has become the hallmark of that industry today.

In South Africa, Anne founded the publication Collective Insight, the publication, produced on the Financial Mail platform, provides a forum for practitioners and academics to debate the extent that we can expect our financial services industry to address the broader social, environmental and governance issues of South Africa and Africa. She sits on the Advisory Committee for the FTSE/JSE Indices and the INSETA Research Committee.

Philip Saunders

Director of the Ninety One Investment Institute

Joined the firm in 1998

Joined the industry in 1981

Philip is director of the Ninety One Investment Institute. He is responsible for leading the development of the Investment Institute’s research role as a driver of Ninety One’s own broad investment thinking and as the key source of guidance, advice and partnership for clients.

He was previously, Co-Head of Multi-Asset Growth and co-portfolio manager for the Global Strategic Managed and Risk Managed strategies, with macro focussed research responsibilities.

He began his investment career in 1981 as an analyst at Guinness Mahon & Co Limited, assuming management responsibility for the company’s managed currency funds in 1984. In 1987, he became a founding director of Guinness Flight Global Asset Management, which was later acquired by Ninety One in 1998, and led its successful Global Fixed Income team. In 2000 he joined the Multi-Asset team, becoming Head in 2004.

Philip graduated from Cambridge University in 1980 with a Masters of Art degree in History.

Luvuyo Masinda

Chief Executive, Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB)

BCom (Hons) (Accounting), University of Natal, CA (SA)

Luvuyo is the Chief Executive for Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) at Standard Bank Group.

He joined Standard Bank in 2007 and has served in several senior positions across the CIB business.

He previously served as Deputy Chief Executive for CIB until his appointment as Chief Executive in August 2024. Luvuyo is a talented and accomplished executive bringing close to 20 years of experience in the financial services industry well suited to take CIB to new heights. His strong leadership skills and deep financial and commercial insights have enabled him to deliver across a diversification of client portfolios and innovative client service solutions within CIB.

Mike Adsetts

Global Chief Investment Officer

Mike Adsetts started at Momentum Investments in May 2008. He has a broad range of experience, spanning investment consulting, investment/portfolio management, product development and client servicing he has gained at Momentum Investments as well as Old Mutual and Alexander Forbes

He has been working in the investment field for 20 years.

Mike was appointed as Global Chief Investment Officer (Global CIO) effective 1 July 2024. He also held position as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) from 1 July 2023 was the acting CIO from 1 November 2022 as well as the deputy CIO from March 2017. He is responsible for ensuring the outcome-based investing philosophy is embedded and represented in decision-making processes, research initiatives, governance and, ultimately, portfolios managed by the investment team. He also acts as an ambassador and elevates the profile and understanding of the philosophy across all stakeholder groups.

Mike has a BSc Honours degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, an MBA from Wits Business School and is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Ed Collinge

Ed Collinge is the Head of Client and Sustainable Investing Solutions at Robeco.  He works closely with product and client teams around the world developing customized investment solutions across all investor types, utilizing Robeco’s market-leading capabilities in sustainability, core fixed income, fundamental equities and quantitative strategies.  Most recently he has been at the forefront of developing bespoke client solutions around climate, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and nature-based offerings tailored to individual investors’ own targets and goals.

He further brings in excess of 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry and previously worked at Invesco, where he led the European Institutional Insurance team. Prior to his position at Invesco, Ed was a senior member of the Global Insurance Solutions team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management where he was responsible for insurance coverage for the UK, Ireland, the Nordics and South Africa. Previous roles also included Head of Capital Management, Annuities at Legal & General and Director of the Lehman Brothers Insurance Capital Markets team. He holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of York and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Abi Mustapha-Maduakor

Abi is an ecosystem builder committed to the sustainable economic development of emerging markets through public policy and private investment.

She is currently CEO of AVCA – the African Private Capital Association, where she oversees strategy, partnerships, and innovation towards building a sustainable private capital industry in Africa.

Abi’s career spans financial management and structuring, international trade, and investment policy in Europe and Africa. She has held previous leadership roles as the COO of AVCA and more recently as the Head of Business Operations and Finance at MedAccess (a subsidiary of British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution).

Abi was Special Adviser to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, responsible for policy programmes to spur private sector investment and SME growth. She began her career in structured products at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant through Ernst & Young.

Abi holds various Board and Committee roles in non-profit and for-profit organisations in the UK, including World Vision, London Chamber of Commerce, and Marula Square.

Abi holds an MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London’

Dr Alistair Mokoena

Dr Alistair Mokoena is the former Country Director for Google Southern Africa where he was responsible for managing Google’s commercial operations and collaborating with customers and social partners in accelerating Africa’s digital transformation. He is an Extraordinary

Professor of Practice at the North-West University Business School, and author of a very popular personal effectiveness book called “Servings of self-mastery”. The book was featured in Exclusive Books’ prestigious HomeBru Campaign in May 2024.

His academic qualifications include Bcom, LLB, MDP (Management Development Programme), EDP (Executive Development Programme), MBA, PhD, and he is in the process of completing DBA (Doctor of Business Administration).

He is a qualified Chartered Marketer with 26 years corporate experience. He’s a board member at the American Society of South Africa, a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa, and a member of the Marketing Association of South Africa. He has received many industry awards over the years including the Runner-up in the MarkLives Agency Leader of the year award (2017), Global Brands Magazine’s Best Advertising and Marketing Leader Award in South Africa (2019), North-West University’s Alumni Excellence Award for Business Leadership (2023), and a Finalist in the IMM (Institute of Marketing Management) Marketing Excellence Awards (2023).

Dr Mokoena’s previous roles include: Brand Manager at Unilever, Senior Brand Manager at Tiger Brands, Marketing Manager at SABMiller, Marketing Director at Mondelez, Head of Marketing at Absa Retail & Business Bank, Managing Director of FCB Advertising and Group CEO of Ogilvy South Africa where he spearheaded their digital transformation journey and presided over Ogilvy’s record-setting award wins.

Dr Mokoena is a member of Council and a member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Johannesburg, member of the Advisory Board at North-West University Business School, a post-graduate supervisor and examiner at various universities.

He previously served as Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Vice-Chairman of the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA). Dr Mokoena is an international keynote speaker on topics such as Leadership, Self-mastery, Effective teams, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Digital Marketing and Advertising. He has published articles in academic journals, contributed book chapters, reviewed book manuscripts, delivered papers at international academic conferences, and given talks at prestigious business schools around the world such as The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, University of Washington’s Michael Foster School of Business, Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, Harvard University Centre for African Studies and University of Oxford Said Business School.

Dr Mokoena is also a philanthropist. He recently established the Dr Alistair Mokoena Education Fund at Rhodes University, North-West University and the University of Johannesburg. He runs the Johnny Magwegwe Mokoena Football Foundation which invests in grassroots football in South African townships. He mentors young professionals, and coaches small businesses. He is passionate about bridging the digital divide and is an advocate for the role that responsible Artificial Intelligence can play in making the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals a reality in our lifetime.

Nieros Oyegun Soerensen

Nieros Oyegun Soerensen is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer at Verod, an African private equity and venture capital fund manager headquartered in Lagos, with offices in Accra, Abidjan, Nairobi and Mauritius.

Previously, she led The Africa List and Nigeria Coverage at BII, the UK DFI. With a background in infrastructure project finance and corporate strategy from Macquarie, hedged alternatives from New Holland Capital, and investment banking from Goldman Sachs, Nieros serves on several boards and investment committees across Africa and Europe, including the board of AVCA (the African Private Capital Association).

She received a B.A magna cum laude in Mathematics and Economics from Columbia University and an M.Sc. in Finance from London Business School, where she serves on the Dean’s Alumni Council and Masters in Finance Advisory Board.

Clay Lambiotte

Clay is a Senior Partner at LCP and advises a number of LCP’s largest clients, including sovereign wealth funds and pension funds in southern Africa. He has extensive experience helping pension funds build and implement effective strategies to support their members. As Head of Strategy for Global Institutional clients, Clay has also led the development of innovative solutions for investors in the areas of energy transition and biotech / life sciences.

Clay joined LCP in 2004 and was made a partner in the investment department in 2008. Clay has over 24 years of experience.  Prior to joining LCP, Clay worked in the United States providing actuarial and investment advice for pension and post-retirement medical plans.

He graduated from the College of William and Mary with a mathematics and finance degree. He is a US qualified actuary and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Michael Cook

Deputy Portfolio Manager: M&G Global Equity Fund

PhD in Astrophysics from SISSA (Italy); MSci in Physics with Astronomy (University of Nottingham).

Having spent over fifteen years in investment teams spanning both systematic and fundamental investing, Mike has a wealth of experience in Quantitative Analysis, Data Science and Investment Operations.

Before joining M&G investments, Michael worked as the Head of Data and Analytics at Kernow Asset Management, and prior to this, he worked within the Advantage team at Lazard Asset Management, focusing on equity research across all major global regions. Previously, he was a Quantitative Analyst at Man AHL, focusing principally on incorporating alternative data within systematic investment processes. Michael began his career in finance at Lloyds Banking Group, independently valuing exotic cross-asset derivatives.

Sanisha Packirisamy

Economist at Momentum Investments

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Business Science Finance (Honours) at University of Cape Town, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Management (FRM) from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) from the CAIA Association

Experience:

Sanisha joined RMB Asset Management in February 2008 as an economic analyst. Appointed as economist at Momentum Asset Management 2012, she was responsible for developing and managing a best practice framework for integrating key macroeconomic inputs and trend shifts that best inform an optimal asset allocation process in partnership with the strategist, portfolio managers, portfolio construction, fixed income and equity research teams.

Since August 2015, Sanisha has provided input for the Momentum Investments division within a macro framework to inform investment opportunities and strategies, taking account of the changing investment and economic narrative in South Africa and globally. She chairs the Momentum Investments Employment Equity Forum and serves as the Deputy Chair of the Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Group Employment Equity Forum. Sanisha is also a regular economic commentator on key media platforms, including a monthly columnist of the Financial Mail.

Zethu Msindo

Independent Trustee

Mr. Zethu Msindo is an independent trustee of the GEPF and is a member of the following committees:  Advisory Board (as Chairperson), Investment Committee, Benefits and Administration Committee, Valuation Subcommittee and he also serves as an independent trustee of the Permanent and Newlife Retirement Annuity Funds.

Zethu has more than 20 years of experience in financial services fields, including employee benefits (EB), group insurance, and institutional investment solutions. He has held positions with Momentum, Old Mutual, and Prescient Investment Management, among other financial services firms.

He holds a Master’s degree in management of finance and investments (MMFI) from Wits University, Master’s degree in business administration, (MBA) from Northwest University, Diploma in investment analysis and portfolio management (DIAPM) from university of Johannesburg (UJ), BSc (Chemistry and Chemical Sciences) from Wits University, RE 1 and 5 regulatory certificates and Certificate in Retirement Plans (CPA) from International Foundation of Employee Benefits and Dalhousie University.

Botsang Ramorwa

Fund Principal (Unlisted Investments) – Public Investment Corporation (PIC)

Botsang Ramorwa is a Fund Principal (Unlisted Investments) at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). She has over 14 years’ experience in private equity with her career in private equity beginning in indirect investments where she focused on fund of funds and later on direct private equity investments.

She currently focuses on direct private equity investments in mid and large enterprises on the continent. Her transactional experience has been sector diagnostic- with no particular bias to any one sector. Through the PIC, she has managed to roll out our exciting mandate centered investments around transformation, sustainable and impactful development in Africa, which is necessary for growing emerging economies.

Mpumi Madisa

Bidvest – Chief Executive

Mpumi Madisa was appointed Chief Executive at the Bidvest Group on the 1st of October 2020. Mpumi first joined Bidvest in 2003 and has, over the past number of years, held several key and strategic leadership roles at subsidiary, divisional and Group level.

Mpumi was appointed non-executive director of the Adcock Board on the 23rd of November 2017, and later Chairman of the Board in February 2021. She is also a Director and Charmain of the board of the United Nations Global Compact Network South Africa (UNGCNSA).

Mpumi has a BSc degree in economics and mathematics and a BCom Honours Degree in economics from Wits University. Additional qualifications include a Certificate Programme in Finance and Accounting and a Master of Management in Finance and Investment and from Wits Business School.

Mpumi’s other accolades include being named, by the Choiseul 100 Africa 2015, 2016 and 2017 study, as one of Africa’s top 200 young leaders who will play a major role in the continent’s future economic development. She was also a finalist in the 2015/16 corporate category of Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards.