MICHAELHOUSE OLD BOYS NEWS OBNews#6 February 2020 Dear Old Boys Christmas has come and gone, we have celebrated the matric of our authors, a few teachers, the CEO of the Bill and Melinda results of our newest cohort of Old Boys, the Class of 2019 and Gates Foundation and one PhD Graduate are highlighted. There the first half term of 2020 is already history. are more men out there making a difference, but we can report only on the Old Boys’ achievements and events of which we As you may know, Robyn Gruijters has taken up her new post know. Please send your stories to [email protected]. as Development Officer at Cowan House and Michelle Huntley moves to Harrismith when Pete takes over as head of Harriston While in Auckland last year it was a pleasure to meet up with School at the end of term. We welcome Taryn Murdey as the new Dave and Kevin Oscroft. Both spoke very highly of Peter Old Boys’ Administrator and Archivist and are most grateful to Oscroft, our past Head of School featured in this edition. Belinda Boast, who has kindly offered to help with the planning and organising of the Gaudies on 17 April and Old Boys Day on James Thorpe returns to South Africa and introduces his 18 April (Please send in your RSVP’s). Churchies team to Mzansi and Ali Barnes and you will be moved by the most remarkable story of Anthony Renton’s incredible Another common theme in the Chronicles of a century ago is the recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury. plea for contributions: Finally one an amazing St Michael Awardee hangs up his “Old Boys are always glad to glean from these pages the present stethoscope at the ripe old age of ninety! doings of the school; but let them remember that we are also glad to know what they are doing, and more so when we have it in Plans for the Old Boys’ functions in New York, Vancouver and their own words. We appeal, therefore (and we have had some Los Angeles are in place and I look forward to meeting our Old substantial support in advance), to all interested in the school, Boys there. If you are able to attend one of these events, please governors, parents, boys past and present, to help us to raise the let the organiser know. Chronicle somewhat above the level of a desiccated diary” Until next time take care, have a blast and make a difference out This trend has not changed much since 1906. In this edition, some there. Kind regards New Old Boys’ Administrator Head Boy: Peter Oscroft (East 1964) My father Basil, one of four sons of an Anglican Missionary in what was then known as Zululand, was head of East in 1928. I married Jacqueline (nee Girdwood), aka Nina, in 1972. We have a son Jonathan, b 1974, who was all set to go to Michaelhouse, until we transferred to the Cape. He went to Bishops and UCT, is a chartered accountant, married to Leza Kilfoil and they have 2 sons and a daughter. Our daughter Katherine, b 1976, went to Rustenberg Girls High and UCT. She is a professional physiotherapist, is married to Alistair Kane and they have 3 daughters. We consider ourselves extremely blessed that they all live in Cape Town, for now anyway. 1 PhD Graduate: David Smedley Conservation “Smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are predominantly rain-fed and therefore highly vulnerable to variable rainfall patterns which are becoming increasingly severe as climates change. This interdisciplinary thesis investigated the effects of low cost water harvesting techniques, as methods for improving on-farm climate resilience, on-yield and hydrological ecosystem service provision at scale. It found that practices available to the poorest of farmers can improve productivity, even when exposed to unreliable rainfall, and positively impact water availability downstream.” https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/regenerative-agriculture-is-trending-in-south-africa/ Dr David Smedley with proud parents, Kate and Alan Making a Difference Mark Suzman (Pascoe 1985). CEO Bill Gates Foundation I’m humbled, honoured, and hugely excited by the opportunity to step in as the next CEO of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s and continue to help advance our important mission to help ensure everyone in the U.S. and around the world has the chance to lead a healthy and productive life. I had no idea what to expect when I moved to Seattle at the beginning of 2007 to join the foundation and build the policy and advocacy team for what was then the brand-new Global Development Program. At the time, we were a foundation of barely more than 300 people, all squeezed into a nondescript building on Eastlake Avenue in Seattle, supported by a small D.C. office and nascent HIV prevention programs in India and China. Now, more than a dozen years later, we are 1,600 strong, working out of our prominent headquarters in Seattle and across offices on four continents. Since I’m more familiar to some of you than others, I wanted to share a bit about how I came to this place and why this work is so important to me. I grew up in apartheid South Africa as part of a politically prominent family that simultaneously fought the legislated crime perpetrated on people of colour while nonetheless benefiting from the comfortable lifestyle and opportunities offered to us as a white family and to me, personally, as a white male. Even as a child, I understood the unfairness, and it left me with a deep desire to use the advantages I had been given to help tackle injustice and inequality. I started my career as a journalist, writing about the challenges of apartheid. I ultimately covered its demise and the election of Nelson 2 Mandela as president before taking up posts in London and then Washington, D.C. (Those of you who have visited my office have seen copies of the ballot from that historic 1994 election as well as Mandela’s election poster.) I loved my career in journalism, but I was constantly looking for opportunities that more directly impacted people’s lives, especially in the developing world. When an offer came to work for the United Nations in 2000, I grabbed it. I soon found myself part of the effort that became the creation of the Millennium Development Goals under the leadership of then Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It was a time of great momentum in global health and development. It coincided with, and was amplified by, the creation of a new entity in Seattle – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. When the Secretary-General’s term ended in 2006, I found myself looking for new ways to keep making a difference for the world’s poorest. That brought me here, to the very foundation I am now so proud to be asked to lead. I can think of no better place to try to help change the world for the better. In Education Professor Owen Skae : Tatham 1979-1981 Married to Vera, Children Shannon (24) and Kieran (21) Since 2010, I have been an Associate Professor and the Director of Rhodes Business School at Rhodes University in Makhanda (Grahamstown). Our focus is very much on sustainability and responsible leadership as epitomized in our essence of ‘Leadership for Sustainability’. Being in a small rural city, that has many challenges; water supply, inequality and high unemployment, presents us with a microcosm of how business can make the world a better place. The highlight of being Director has certainly been obtaining AMBA accreditation, notwithstanding our small size; we were the 6th Business School in South Africa and 9th in Africa to achieve it. My wife, Vera, is a learning support teacher at St Andrews Prep, my daughter Shannon is in her 2nd year of Masters at Rhodes and my son Kieran in the 3rd year of a BA at Rhodes. After matriculating in 1981, I spent a year at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and then proceeded to Rhodes University eventually graduating with an Master of Commerce in 1998 and then an MBA from Durham University in England in 1990. A short stint working in London, before returning to South Africa to work as a strategy consultant for Ernst and Young and then as Financial Director for my father-in-law’s group of companies across Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe taught me a lot about operating in tough business conditions. Shortly after relocating to Durban in 1994, I was asked to teach temporarily at the University of Natal on entrepreneurship and it was at the point that I realised that my passion was in academia. So shortly thereafter, I joined the Department of Accounting where I was for 10 years, teaching budding chartered accountants. During that time, I had been consulting for a UN agency and so after an opportunity came up to play a greater role in development of strategic approaches to developing country export competitiveness, I spent two years in Geneva, being fortunate enough to travel to many countries that I would otherwise never have got to go. Still the South African roots were calling and when I heard about the opportunity going at Rhodes Business School, I had to take it. Whilst living in Durban, I became involved in the Old Boys’ branch structures and certainly working with such dedicated and committed Old Boys such as Kevin O’Brien, John Cheshire and Brett Davidson, was an incredible experience. There are many others too that are too numerous to mention, but this is where I really learnt the special bond that exists between us.