Profiles of Facilitators and Discussants 1. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Profiles of Facilitators and Discussants 1. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala Tshilidzi Marwala (OMB) born 28 July 1971 in Venda, Transvaal, South Africa is the currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation, Postgraduate Studies and the Library at the University of Johannesburg. Marwala was previously a Dean of Engineering at the University of Johannesburg, a Professor of Electrical Engineering, the Carl and Emily Fuchs Chair of Systems and Control Engineering as well as the DST/NRF South Africa Research Chair of Systems Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude) from Case Western Reserve University in USA, a Master of Engineering from the University of Pretoria, a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge. He was a post-doctoral research associate at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and in year 2006 to 2007 was a visiting fellow at Harvard University. In the year 2007 to 2008, he has been appointed a visiting fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He has supervised 47 masters and 19 PhD students to completion and has published over 300 papers and 8 books. He is a fellow of TWAS, The World Academy of Sciences, Academy of Science of South Africa and African Academy of Sciences as well as a senior member of the IEEE and a distinguished member of the Association for Computing Machinery. His work has appeared in publications such as the New Scientist. He has served on the boards of EOH, Debel, SITA, City Power and Pikitup. 2. Discussant: Mr Kevin Moore Mr Kevin Moore has twenty five years’ experience in biodiversity conservation management. He is also highly qualified in conservation and recently completed his Master’s Degree in Protected Area Management. The title of his thesis was “Exploring communication of the elephant management plan of South African National Parks”. He has worked in twenty national parks across the country and as such has a clear understanding of the day-to-day management of protected areas as well as the intricacies of working with neighbouring communities. His work as a social ecologist enabled him to work together with communities on sustainable resource use projects as well as community based conservation initiatives. He has a good rapport with his peers and is highly regarded in the environmental education and Field Guiding professions. He holds the highest level in Field Guiding and has used this to train students and volunteers. His work with volunteer organisations has seen the successful implementation of volunteering projects across the country with significant success. As a member of the SANParks Honorary Rangers, National Training Committee, he qualified as a trainer in seven different speciality courses which were presented throughout the country. He is currently General Manager of Visitor Management and Interpretation for SANParks Tourism Division, based at Head Office in Pretoria. He successfully initiated and implemented Social Science research in SANParks and later Tourism 1 Research, which has grown to meet the needs of these disciplines in guiding conservation management. He has represented South Africa at conferences and workshops in: Australia, Burkina Faso, Botswana, USA, UK, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and he has networked with biologists and scientists on conservation related projects from at least another ten countries. His current position within the organisation has enabled him to show his skills in developing tourism policies, strategies, guidelines, audits and manuals for the leading conservation agency in the country which is of utmost importance for taking biodiversity conservation in South Africa to the level that it deserves. 3. Discussant: Mr Kanyiso Walaza Mr Kanyiso Walaza is a Director for Local Economic Development Policy and Practice at the National Department of Cooperative Governance responsible for Economic Development Planning and Support for Secondary Cities (fast growing towns) and Metropolitan municipalities. Kanyiso has more than eight years’ experience in the local economic development space. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Sociology from the University of Johannesburg and Masters’ degree in Development Studies from Nelson Mandela Metro University. Kanyiso previously worked for the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism responsible for Economic Planning. During his tenure in the Department he played a significant role in the development of the Eastern Cape Tourism Master Plan; Eastern Cape Tourism State of Play report and the development of the Eastern Cape Tourism Database and Geospatial profile. He was among the initiators of the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Review and Outlook publication which culminated into the launching of the annual Eastern Cape Economic Symposium. Kanyiso has also been a Lecturer at the Rhodes University and University of Fort Hare. Upon joining the Department of Cooperative Governance he has facilitated the completion of the reviewed National LED Framework as well as the development of the National LED Strategic Action and Implementation Plan. He has been very instrumental in coordinating Economic Cluster Departments for better supporting municipalities in discharging LED function. He has participated in various international platforms in Malawi, Canada, Botswana, Belgium, Netherlands and Poland. In the current position he has been able to support municipalities in developing credible LED strategies, promotion of the ease of doing business through red tape reduction in municipalities, coordination of municipal-business partnerships, supporting Local Economic Development Agencies, developing a support package for municipalities for the tourism sector and leading the conversation on better approaches to implement LED in a meaningful and impactful manner. 4. Discussant: Ms Carol Vosloo Carol Vosloo started her ‘sporting career’ as events co-ordinator at Eastern Province Cricket. Since then she has gained a wealth of experience in the sporting world. As a partner and director of a sports marketing consultancy in Johannesburg, she has managed and executed events such as the Nedbank Golf Challenge and both national and international cricket, rugby and soccer events. 2 Even though Vosloo is not a marathon runner, she comes with great passion for planning, implementing and organising sports events. Her favourite, albeit challenging memories, are from the inaugural Carling Black Label Cup, standing in the tunnel of a stadium filled with 90 000 passionate soccer fanatics to powerboat racing! The mother of two young budding sportswomen, she admits that their sporting talent comes from their father. Smiling she adds that while she has run a few 10km events, she won’t be doing any marathon training in the near future, with her hands full in organising the annual Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon. 5. Discussant: Ms Judy Nwokedi Ms Judi Nwokedi joined Tourvest Holdings as Chief Operating Officer in February 2014.She was the managing director of public broadcasting at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and is a past chief executive of Motorola Sub-Saharan Africa as well as a former senior vice-president of AREVA in South Africa. Ms. Nwokedi sits on numerous boards and holds leadership positions: by way of example - South African Tourism Board, JSE listed consolidated infrastructure Group. She is also the founder and chair of South Africa’s Nuclear New Build Consortium. 6. Discussant: Dr. Lindie du Plessis Dr. Lindie du Plessis is a senior lecturer in Tourism Management at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. She specialises in tourism competitiveness and management issues and is currently involved in nature-based tourism and management research. Specifically she conducts research on sustainability, the role of service quality, value for money and price. Dr. du Plessis is actively involved in the industry by assisting in various tourism projects, writing business plans, conducting feasibility studies and writing implementation plans. She was involved in the development of training material for DEAT (Department of Environment and Tourism) as well as NYDA (National Youth Development Agency). She qualified herself over the past ten years as an adventure guide, tour guide, Advance lifesaver, 4x4 advanced driver and guide. She is accredited with CATHSSETA (previously known as THETA) as an Assessor, Facilitator, Coach, Mentor and Develop and Designer. She co-written a book for the game farm industry called: Hunting and game farm tourism (2013). She currently teaches graduate and post-graduate modules. She is the supervisor of 7 Master students from whom 5 received their degree and 5 PhD students and 4 completed PhD students. She has written 14 accredited articles and presented at national and international conferences. She is also a member of the AIEST and The Southern African Institute for Management Scientists. 3 7. Facilitator: Prof Elmarie Slabbert Prof Elmarie Slabbert completed her PhD in Tourism Management in 2005 and is currently a professor in this field of study at the North-West University. She has been actively involved in the academic community in leading various research projects, serving on various boards, supervising 45 completed post-graduate studies, publishing 30 academic articles, delivering more than 32 international conference presentations and writing more than 56 research reports. Her most recent achievement was being the second

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