/ 14 September 2009

The panel for the planet

The 2009 judges’ panel

Karin Ireton

Director of group sustainability management at Standard Bank of South Africa

Karin Ireton has spent many years as head of sustainable development: markets and economics for Anglo American. She has played a role in developing corporate understanding and practice as well as the formulation of national and international policy.

She edited the group’s Report to Society and represents the company internationally on a number of industry and academic working groups.


Professor Gavin Staude

Founding director of the Rhodes Investec Business School

Professor Gavin Staube was previously the Raymond Ackerman professor and head of the department of management at Rhodes University. He completed his undergraduate studies at Rhodes where he also read for his MCom and PhD degrees. He read for an MBA degree at the Cranfield School of Management in England.

Since 1991 he has been visiting professor at Durham Business School in the UK where he teaches a course on strategic marketing. He has co-authored five books on marketing, management, small business and strategic management. He has published in various South African and international journals in addition to consulting to South African organisations.


Paul Kapelus

Founder and CEO of the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship

Paul Kapelus has an MA in social anthropology from Sussex University (UK). He is a stakeholder council member of the Global Reporting Initiative, council member of AccountAbility and was selected as a young global leader by the World Economic Forum.

Kapelus has been working with the corporate sector in Africa for the past 15 years. He is working on various international initiatives that aim to link the competitiveness of nations to issues of corporate responsibility.


Rosemary Noge

Majored in international relations at Wellesley College in Boston, Massachusetts

Rosemary Noge has worked in the mining industry for nine years and has extensive experience in the formulation of sustainable business strategy and practices for the industry.

She works independently and is a member of the National Business Initiative’s sustainable futures advisory committee and the UN Global compact advisory committee.


Wanda Mkutshulwa

Head of communications at South African National Parks (SANParks)

Wanda Mkutshulwa has an educational background in journalism and international relations. She previously worked briefly for the media, both in the print and broadcast fields, before joining the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights in 1999, initially as head of communication in the Eastern Cape regional Land Claims Commission and eventually as national communications coordinator in the office of the chief land claims commissioner.

She is the convenor for the South African National Parks Kudu Awards adjudication panel.


Justin Smith

Manager of the Good Business Journey (Sustainability Programme) at Woolworths

Prior to joining the group Justin Smith was senior manager, governance and sustainability with the Nedbank Group as well as operational head of enterprise governance and compliance within Nedbank’s enterprise governance and compliance cluster.

He is involved in the management of corporate governance and business ethics issues. He is co-chairperson of the United Nations environment programme finance intiative for Africa.


Fiona Macleod

Editor of Homegrown Magazines: Sunrise, Lowveld Living, Highveld Living and Limpopo Living

Fiona Macleod is an award-winning journalist and editor. She was previously environmental editor at the Mail & Guardian for 10 years, during which time she was awarded the prestigious Nick Steele Award for environmental conservation.

She is a former editor of Earthyear magazine and a current member of the judging panel of the Kudu Awards. She is a founder of the M&G Greening the Future awards.


Donald Kau

Director and shareholder of Meropa Communications

Donald Kau has qualifications in public relations from the University of Johannesburg, graphic design from the AAA School of Advertising and project management, and he recently completed his management advancement programme through the University of Pretoria and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

He is responsible for strategic counsel to clients in government and the emerging entrepreneur business arena. He writes in specialist publications on behalf of his clients as well as in his personal capacity on occasion.


Nigel Coni

Owner of ISHECON

Nigel Coni is a chemical engineer with 38 years of experience in the chemical industry, in design, project and production positions. For the past 10 years he has worked as a safety, health and environmental consultant, specialising in environmental impact assessments and safety risk assessments of projects in the chemical processing industry.

He is a former president of the South African Institution of Chemical Engineering and the South African affiliate of the International Association for Impact Assessment.


Chesney
Bradshaw

Group communications and sustainability manager of ABB South Africa

He has been involved in sustainability for the past four years with a focus on corporate social investment, energy efficiency and the industrial environment. He manages ABB’s corporate social investment programme. His career background has involved journalism, public affairs, corporate communications and FMCG marketing.

His interests include organisations and society, communications, the marine environment and energy efficiency. He has a BA from Unisa, South Africa, and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland.


Yolandi
Groenewald

M&G environmental editor and editor of Greening the Future

Yolandi Groenewald is a respected environmental journalist who is passionate about protecting the environment from unscrupulous individuals and corporations. Groenewald joined the M&G team five years ago after completing her honours in communication at North-West University.

In 2004 she won a merit award at the South African Breweries environmental journalism awards. She is a former editorial assistant for Earthyear and is the editor of the Greening the Future and Investing in the Future supplements.