Leigh Roberts CA(SA) (Chair)
B.Com, CA(SA)
Leigh is the CEO of the Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) of South Africa and is the Chair of its technical Working Group. She has been deeply involved in integrated reporting in South Africa and internationally. She was a part of the technical team that developed the Integrated Reporting Framework (the International Integrated Reporting Council’s International <IR> Framework released in 2013 and as a member of the Framework Board worked on its update in 2021). She is a member of the Integrated Reporting and Connectivity Council. Leigh has co-authored two books with Professor Mervyn King: Integrate: Doing Business in the 21st Century (Juta) and The Healthy Company (Juta 2021). She regularly runs board and executive training workshops in South Africa and internationally. She has run specialist training for the IoDSA and the JSE Ltd and has previously adjudicated for the CGISA IR Awards in the Top 40 Listed Companies category, as well as contributing to numerous publications internationally. Leigh is one of the founders of the IRC of South Africa.
Abby Paulus CA(SA)
B Com (Acc) (Hons), CA(SA)
Abby is an associate partner at Ernst & Young (EY) and is part of EY’s corporate reporting team. She has over 20 years’ experience and her role includes reviewing financial statements for IFRS compliance and dealing with complex IFRS and reporting queries. Abby is a key member of the team responsible for EY’s Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards. She is responsible for the EY Integrated Reporting Benchmarking services. Abby is a member of EY’s EMEIA working group on sustainability disclosures, navigating the outcome of the ISSB’s sustainability reporting requirements.
Cathie Lewis
LLM (cum laude), Admitted attorney and conveyancer; Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa, LLM: Law of Contract, LLM: Corporate Law (cum laude), MSt in Sustainability Leadership, PhD candidate
Cathie is the founder of Earth Energy (Pty) Ltd, an ESG, climate change and water governance consultancy. She has over 26 years’ experience in governance, legal and sustainability, of which 11 has been as a group company secretary in the listed environment. She is one of the founding directors of Co-Go, Collaborative Governance Network for Water Security; fellow and board member of the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa (CGISA) and member of its Technical Committee and has been elected as a member of the KZN Climate Change and Sustainable Development Council constituted by the Premier’s Office.
Charmane Russell
(Bachelor of Arts (University of South Africa), Master of Business Leadership (University of South Africa School of Business Leadership), Post Graduate Diploma in Integrated Reporting (University of Pretoria)
Charmane Russell has extensive experience developed over two decades in advising clients and producing sustainability and integrated reports. Working primarily in the resources sector for companies listed all over the world, Charmane has supported the development of numerous reports aimed at meeting the needs of stakeholders, while at the same time ensuring alignment with reporting standards. Over the past few years this scope has increased to include materiality assessments, including double materiality.
R&A is an SME corporate member of the Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa, a member of the IFRS Sustainability Consultant Program, and a long-time supporter of GRI. Prior to founding R&A, Charmane was a Senior Divisional Manager at AngloGold Limited and Head: Group Corporate Communications at Anglo American.
Corli le Roux
BA.LL.B Cert.Dir.®
Corli is an independent ESG specialist focusing on sustainability in business and investment, responsible leadership, transparent governance and reporting. Her career spans more than 20 years in capital markets, during which she led the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) work and positioning in relation to sustainability for over 15 years, including managing the development and evolution of the pioneering JSE Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index. Since 2017, she has been serving clients across the corporate and non-corporate sectors, locally and globally, with a range of ESG-related strategic research, analysis and advisory services, including analysis and benchmarking of integrated and sustainability reports. Corli is a Senior Specialist for the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative and an associate of Six Capitals ESG Advisory. She has served on the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) since 2019 and on the judging panel for the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa (CGISA) Integrated Reporting Awards since 2018.
Desiree Jones
CA(SA)
Desiree is passionate about helping businesses create more authentic relationships with their stakeholders. A Chartered Accountant by training, Desiree has over 10 years’ experience in stakeholder engagement, ESG, investor relations, risk and integrated reporting. Prior to founding Alchemy Creative Studios, Desiree was a senior manager at Standard Bank.
Dirk Strydom
MPhil Internal Auditing (UP), CIA, PIA, FIIASA
Dirk is with the Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa’s Learning Academy. He has over 14 years of experience in enterprise risk management, corporate governance and internal control. He has a special interest in integrated reporting and organisational sustainability and the evolving role of internal audit with reference to the aforementioned. He has served on the IRC of SA’s working group for over five years.
Jayne Mammatt
Chartered Accountant
Jayne is a Chartered Accountant by profession and became involved in the broad areas of corporate governance, sustainable development, and climate change in 2002. Since then, she has worked across a variety of industries including mining, oil and gas, banking, insurance, telecommunications, technology, construction, real estate, and state-owned entities. Jayne focuses on developing and delivering services in the areas of sustainable development strategy, framework, practices, reporting and assurance; Sustainable Development Goals; integrated reporting and management; social and environment impact and outcomes measurement; safety, health and environment risk, performance, and compliance, and climate change risk and resilience. Jayne has written various “thought leadership” articles for publication in the press, presented at numerous conferences, co-authored of The Company Director’s Handbook, and contributed a chapter to SAICA’s Green II. She was a member of the Institute of Directors Sustainable Development Forum, the Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa (IRCSA) Board and the NBI’s Advisory Committee on Environment and Sustainability. She is a member of the King sub-committee on climate change.
Johan Thyse
BA Law, LLB, MAP, MLaw Climate Change Law and Policy
Johan Thyse is the Vice President: Sustainability and Reporting at Sasol. His qualifications include the BA Law, LLB degrees obtained from the University of Western Cape; MAP from Wits Business School and a Master in Laws: Climate Change Law and Policy awarded with distinction from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He is a qualified attorney and joined Sasol in 1996 and occupied and led several portfolios which includes leading the Strategic Planning team at Sasol Oil. In 2008, as part of Sasol Synfuels International, he was expatriated to Beijing, China for 3.5 years followed by an 18-month assignment in Calgary, Canada. He returned to South Africa in late 2012 taking up a role which included leading an inter-disciplinary team focused on climate change policy and was responsible for Sasol’s regulatory response. He moved to his current role in 2020 taking Group responsibility for inter alia sustainability and integrated reporting.
Karin Ireton
MA International Political Economy
Karin has over 25 years’ experience working in the sustainable development field at corporate, national and international level. She is an experienced non-executive director and has served on the boards of listed, not-for-profit and state-owned entities. She chaired the Institute of Directors Sustainable Development Forum from 2009 until 2019. She has held executive roles in the energy, mining and banking sectors and was a sustainability pioneer in each of those roles. She currently consults to international and local organisations and is the director of Sustainability Matters. Karin served as Chairman of the GRI’s 45-member international Stakeholder Council and member of the GRI Board (ex officio). She was a lead author of the Principles for Responsible Banking by UNEP FI in 2019 and the South African National Treasury Draft Technical Paper on Financing a Sustainable Economy in 2020. She was the lead author of a 2016 paper published by the UN Environment Programme on sustainability reporting by government agencies across several countries.
Lee Swan
Masters in Development Planning, CFA
Lee has over 19 years of sustainability and commercial experience. She is an experienced sustainability advisor with a Master’s Degree in Development Planning, a CFA Certificate in ESG Investing, a CFA Certificate in Climate and Investing, a CFA Investment Management Certificate (IMC) (Level I), and a number of other business and sustainability credentials. She has experience in the application of sustainability-based thinking in a variety of commercial sectors including management consulting, investment management, retirement planning, manufacturing, energy, mining, construction, aviation, real estate investment and infrastructure development. She is currently with the Alexander Forbes Group. In addition to her passion for sustainable business, Lee is passionate about education. For the past ten years she has served as a Member of the Board of the LEAP Science & Maths Schools – a non-profit organisation with eight secondary schools, serving youth in impoverished communities, with a focus on building maths and science competence as well practical life skills for its learners. Lee is also the Chair of LEAP’s Remuneration Board Committee.
Lelanie Hohls
CA(SA)
Lelanie’s passion for corporate and integrated reporting started when she was involved in the pilot programme of the then IIRC International Integrated Reporting Framework from 2011 to 2014. She led an award-winning reporting team and facilitated reporting discussions in South Africa, the Netherlands, Moscow and Mumbai during this time. She joined GreymatterFinch in 2014 to become a full-time Reporting Strategist. She is a technical expert on the Integrated Reporting Framework. She was a member of the IRC Working Group from 2014 to 2022 and this included being the project leader of the “Preparing an Integrated Report – a Starter’s Guide” paper released in 2014 and the updated version in 2018, and the project leader of “A Meaningful and Concise Integrated Report“ in 2020. She was a member of the IIRC’s <IR> Specialist Panel from 2018 to 2020 and a member of SAICA’s Integrated Thinking Project Group which published “Integrated Thinking – An exploratory survey” in 2015. The earlier parts of her career included six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc before joining Al Naboodah Construction Group in Dubai as Financial Manager, and following this, she was the General Manager of Financial and Management Reporting at Eskom Holdings SOC Limited.
Loshni Naidoo
BSc (Chem Eng), BComm (INF), MBA, PGDip (Future Studies)
Loshni is the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Her role as CSO focuses on the JSE’s own sustainability efforts, the measurement of ESG metrics of its listed clientele, and reinforcing the bourse’s ongoing ambitions towards transformation, improved regulation and building a more sustainable future. Loshni represents the JSE on various industry advisory panels related to sustainability, responsible investing and climate change internationally. Sustainability has always been at the core of her work across decades of multi-sectoral experience, from her start as a process engineer to her more recent consultative positions. In recent years, she has placed further emphasis on the evolution of sustainable practices and corporate social responsibility, incorporating the integrated thinking required for ESG strategies.
Mark Hoffman
BCom (Acc) (Hons), CA(SA)
Mark joined Deloitte in 2019 as Partner Assurance Services, having previously worked with KPMG for 29 years. Mark has worked with over 150 organisations in implementing and improving their IFRS financial reporting and integrated reporting processes and systems. Mark has worked with more than 50 companies in IFRS accounting change, disclosure refresh, finance process solutions, complex transaction support (including BBBEE structures, capital projects, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions) and related financial reporting solutions. He has extensive experience on the development of IR processes, methodologies, report production, integrated assurance, King IV governance disclosures, as well as strategy, performance reporting, risk management, stakeholder engagement, governance and remuneration application.
Mohamed Adam
BA (UDW) LLB (Wits) LLM
Mohamed is an admitted attorney and also holds an LLM in International Trade Law from the University of Essex in the UK. He held several positions in Eskom Ltd in a professional and management role, and in February 2015 he joined ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd as General Counsel and GM Regulation. His experience includes involvement in executive management, legal and compliance, ethics, corporate governance, sustainability and integrated reporting. He has been a member of the King Committee on Corporate Governance for many years and served on the King IV task team. He was also the chairman of the board of directors of The Ethics Institute until July 2019. He is the co-author, together with Dr Reuel Khoza, of The Power of Governance: Enhancing the Performance of State-Owned Enterprises (2005).
Ronel Fourie
MCom (Business Management)
Ronel Fourie is a partner in the Corporate Reporting Services Division (CRS) at PwC. Her roles include leading initiatives to fulfil the CRS strategy of upholding quality through assurance engagement team support. She is a member of the PwC Global CRS team specialising in IFRS as well as in sustainability reporting. She is part of a number of PwC sub-committees currently drafting firmwide guidance on sustainability reporting. She is responsible for coordinating the annual PwC corporate reporting training curriculum and is passionate about facilitating training. She is also responsible for sign-off on the IFRS compliance of financial statements and interim report reviews of a number of listed companies. In the last five years she has formed part of the team that acts as the convenor of judges on the Chartered Governance Institute of South Africa’s Integrated Reporting awards and is a co-author of their annual publication. She has completed a masters in Business Management on Integrated Reporting and is currently enrolled at the Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute for a PhD in leadership.
Scott Williams CA(SA)
BA (Hons) Business Accounting and Finance, Postgraduate Certificate in Development Management, ACA BFP (ICAEW), CA(SA)
Scott has over 10 years of Financial Assurance experience as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Development Management. Scott’s expertise includes sustainable development assurance (SDA) and integrated reporting (IR) and he has performed numerous engagements across various sectors. Scott has contributed to various thought leadership publications including the 2018 PwC Mine publication on global mining. He was also a participant in the United Nations Young Sustainability Innovation Programme (YSIP) and a presenter and panellist at several SDA and IR related events. Scott completed his articles with PwC in Glasgow, Scotland before joining PwC South Africa.
Shaheed Osman
B.Com, CA(SA)
Shaheed is a partner at KPMG South Africa, a qualified CA(SA) and a registered auditor with IRBA. Shaheed serves as the KPMG Southern Africa ESG assurance lead focusing on the reporting implications of ESG-related matters and the assurance thereof. He is the engagement partner and quality reviewer on a number of listed ESG assurance engagements. In his technical accounting role, Shaheed performs reviews of financial statements for a number of listed companies and is involved in complex accounting and reporting queries. Shaheed is also a member of the IRBA Sustainability Standing Committee and of various KPMG regional and global ESG topic teams.
Sheralee Morland
Certified Risk Management Professional (CRM Prof). B Compt, BCompt Hons
Sheralee has been involved in integrated reporting since its inception in South Africa in 2010. Her professional career of some 30 years spans a range of governance roles, including auditing, internal audit and risk management in the banking, insurance, asset and investment management, pension funds, medical aids and mining sectors. Over the last 12 years until June 2018, Sheralee held the role of Executive Head of Enterprise-wide Risk Management at Nedbank Ltd. She was a key contributor to their regular award-winning integrated report and participated in its evolution from the conventional annual report to that of an integrated report. Now she designs, writes and project manages the production of integrated reports for listed and unlisted companies as the CEO of Joshero (Pty) Ltd. She is a past president of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA) and served on their executive for 9 years.
Tina Playne
BA-Hons, MBA
Tina has an extensive background in strategy consulting spanning nearly three decades, with a focus on diverse sectors in blue chip and multinational organisations. Her expertise lies in driving transformative growth and enhancing business performance, delivering tangible results in dynamic, high-pressure environments. With a track record of successful strategy implementations, Tina has applied agile methodologies and orchestrated impactful campaigns to support societal frameworks. She served as a member of the executive leadership team at a Pan African bank where she served across various areas including integrated planning, risk and product governance, sector and segment management, enterprise development, innovation and change. Since joining Trialogue, Tina has played a role in refining the integrated thinking model to embed sustainability practices within client organisations and delivered a comprehensive range of reports, including integrated, ESG and sustainability reports aligning to international best practice and standards. She has held various executive and non-executive directorships across various sectors.
Thuto Masasa CA(SA)
B.Com, CA(SA)
Thuto is the Head of BDO Advisory Services and is a qualified chartered accountant with extensive experience established over 15 years of working in commerce, assurance and corporate advisory services. Her past experience includes working for Cummins, a Fortune 500 company, Deloitte and was the Head of External Audit at Nkonki Incorporated, before establishing Phakisa Incorporated. She has worked in London for a big four firm and has facilitated training in various countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Thuto has actively contributed to integrated reporting thought leadership initiatives, which include the Nkonki JSE Top 100 Listed Companies and State-Owned Companies’ Integrated Reporting Awards since their inception in 2011. She has spoken at a global level on the topic including presenting at the IIRC International Convention in 2015. She won the prestigious Young Accountant of the Year at the 2016 International Accounting Bulletin (IAB) and The Accountant (TA) Awards. In the past Thuto has held various non-executive directorships within the private and public sector including listed entities.
Professor Yvette Lange CA(SA)
MPhil Business Management (Responsible Leadership), CA(SA), CIA, CCSA
Yvette is an Adjunct Professor within the Auditing Division at the School of Accountancy at Wits University. Yvette’s expertise includes assurance and analysis, risk management, sustainability aspects and non-financial assurance and advisory. Prior to joining Wits in January 2020, Yvette was a Director within the Governance, Risk and Internal Audit team at PwC joining from PwC’s Sustainability and Integrated Reporting team. Yvette had responsibility for overseeing and developing non-financial assurance methodology, risk and quality matters for PwC globally and locally. In 2018, she was seconded to the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) as a Technical Specialist. She is a past member of CFAS (Committee for Auditing Standards) and Chairman of the (Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors’ Sustainability Standing. She is a member of the research team on integrated reporting within the Wits School of Accountancy and oversees the academic research projects of the IRC of SA.
Professor Warren Maroun CA(SA)
ACCMA CA(SA) PhD
Warren is a Professor of Accounting at the School of Accountancy, Wits University. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). His research interests include integrated reporting, corporate reporting, external audit and corporate governance with a specific focus on the functioning of mechanisms of accountability. Warren has published over 50 journal articles, including papers in the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Accounting Forum, British Accounting Review and International Journal of Auditing. He has also produced several technical and practitioner-focused reports for professional bodies such as the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA). He has co-edited two books on integrated reporting namely, Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting and the Routledge Handbook of Integrated Reporting with Charl de Villiers.
Zanele Salman
MBA, Dipl Marketing Management, BSc (Hons) Chemistry
Zanele is an experienced investor relations and business development executive with over 18 years corporate experience and over two years as founder and director of Isibani-ci, an investor relations, strategic communications and business development firm. She has worked for corporations like Sasol Ltd, Nampak Ltd and Barloworld Ltd, where she fulfilled various roles spanning the elements of the value chain, giving her a comprehensive understanding of operations optimisation, strategy, project management, marketing and sales as well as the key factors that lead to improved performance. She combines business management success with expertise of delivering proven value in executing complex strategic reporting and engagements.
Zihle Nonganga
B.Comm (Honours Economics)
Zihle is an Investor Relations professional with expertise in developing and implementing investor relations programs that support company goals. She is currently with the Spar Group and was previously the General Manager: Investor Relations at the MTN Group. Before this, she held Investor Relations roles at EOH, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and the Edcon Group. Her passion for IR and the development of IROs, led her to join the board of the Investor Relations Society of South Africa in 2020. Her experience, spanning across different sectors and companies in various growth (and crisis) phases, has enhanced her ability to articulate strategic and financial performance to investors and analysts; develop and maintain strategic relationships with internal and external stakeholders; and navigate through periods of uncertainty and volatility.