Caryn Berman, Business Development director – Brainstorm

Caryn is a versatile, well-experienced marketing and business development professional. With 20 years in the media sector, Caryn has established the Brainstorm brand firmly in the market as the first choice for B2B marketing.

Brainstorm is the magazine for decision-makers and offers content on burning business issues that is fresh, controversial, independent and valuable.

Dr Denisha Jairam-Owthar - Group CIO @ Council for Medical Scheme, Chief Director Information, Communication & Technology, University of Stellenbosch

Dr Denisha has been appointed the new Group Chief Information Officer for the Council for Medical Schemes. With the Health Care Industry being at the cusp of change in SA; technology and science intersect to overcome health challenges that change the world for the better. This is where she believes she can make a enormous difference to people’s lives, with technological advancements exponentially increasing in the healthcare sector.

Dr. Philile Mkhize, COO - Absa

Philile is an IT change-maker who is passionate about the convergence of technology and humanity. She is a standing Doctorate candidate specialising in Entrepreneurship.

Philile is a head judge for Technovation, a USA based non-profit organisation backed by Big Tech companies like Google and Salesforce. Technovation inspires young girls in STEM across the globe.

Gugu Mthembu - Chief Marketing Officer - Telkom

Gugu holds an undergraduate Diploma in Information Technology, Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Marketing and Business Management and a master’s in philosophy in International Business. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for Telkom, a heritage brand with the fastest growing mobile portfolio in South Africa. Having started out in the petroleum Logistics industry as an IT Software and Systems Administration specialist at the turn of the century, she made her transition into marketing as a business analyst and product specialist and quickly realized that strategic marketing was the space she could add more value in. A technology enthusiast at heart, she has been in Telecommunications for almost 20 years of her 24-year career. Gugu is as passionate about developing respectable brands as she is about facilitating diversity in the creative industry. A firm believer in enabling inclusive opportunities, Gugu embraces and drives impactful change initiatives, and lends her professional skills on a pro-bono basis to several charity organisations as a Board Director and has been involved as a juror for several awards locally and globally. Under her stewardship, the Telkom brand has made the incredible rise to being the third-largest telecommunications company in South Africa and was consistently voted the Sunday Times Gen Next Coolest Brand by the youth segment for three years running. An advocate for diversity and inclusion, particularly of women, she has championed investment in initiatives that uplift women in sports and those that celebrate women making strides in the technology sector.

Helen Constantinides, CIO and Executive member for the Group at AVBOB Mutual Assurance Society, Visionary CIO Finalist 2019&2022

Experienced Group Chief Information Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Business Process, Oracle Database, Storage, Databases, and IT Service Management. Strong information technology professional with a MBA and MBL - Masters in Business Leadership Degree focused in Strategic & Business Leadership from University of South Africa.

Helen Nicholson, The Networking Company

Helen has been called the ‘Queen of Networking’ by many of her clients. She began her career as an accountant and has evolved into her current role of CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of The Networking Company.

A passionate connector with international corporate experience. She has written two best-selling books, and ran the New York marathon in 2011.

Itumeleng Makgati, Group CISO, Standard Bank

Seasoned IT, business, and systems integration Executive, Itumeleng Makgati boasts nearly two decades of expertise in her field. Itumeleng Makgati, Group Executive – Information Security at the Standard Bank Group provide strategic vision and leadership of the Information Security Shared Services across the Group, subsidiaries and ecosystem partners, supporting information security initiatives, the associated decision making, to protect sensitive data and systems from infiltration or misuse. She is passionate about building diverse high-performance teams that thrive in the face of adversity.

Jennifer Ramnath

Accenture’s Jeniffer Ramnath, managing director, Technology Strategy and Advisory, is a technology specialist with over 25 years experience in IT strategy, business management, transformational change and execution; business development and divestitures across operations, sales and service delivery. Her executive leadership experience is predominantly in the telecommunications, ICT, financial services, mining, energy and consumer goods industries. A strong advocate within the Accenture Africa Woman in Tech Programme, driving the diversity and inclusion agenda, Ramnath is an experienced collaborator, facilitator and key note speaker using platforms to help mentor and grow careers for woman in technology.

Kelebogile Mosiane, Vice President: Digital & IT, DP World

Kelebogile is the Vice President: Digital & IT at DP World, with a career that spans across leading South African and global organisations.

Professionally, Kelebogile exemplifies South Africa’s dynamic new breed of executives – energetic, hard-working, and well-networked.

Khathu Sibanda, CIO – University of Joburg

Khathu is a disciplined and results-driven IT executive. Her success lies in her perceptive decision-making skill, strong ethics, natural aptitude to lead multi-cultural teams and her ability to define new strategies that drive growth.

An avid reader with a passion for family and her community, she also drives CSI initiatives for disadvantaged schools and orphanages.

Kume Luvhani, Co-founder and Executive Director – Vaxowave

At just 29, Kume made directorship at Absa becoming one of the youngest executives at the bank. Her passion for business enablement through innovation led to her co-founding Vaxowave, a technology company in 2018.

She is a passionate advocate for literacy programmes in SA, developing the youth and developing talented women in leadership. She helps to equip rural schools with essential school supplies and dedicates a large portion of her free time to mentoring young people.

Mpho Hlefana, Managing Executive: Marketing at BCX

Mpho Hlefana is the Managing Executive for Marketing at BCX. She is responsible for all aspects of BCX’s marketing efforts, including solutions marketing, brand, communications, and marketing operations. Mpho joined BCX in 2019 and has held various positions in the marketing department.

In her capacity as Executive for Product, Solutions and Sales Segment Marketing, she was responsible for creating and accelerating the opportunities to support revenue generation through strategic marketing at BCX. She focused on driving the company’s vision by building marketing programs through an integrated marketing approach to promote our exceptional product innovation and purpose driven initiatives.

Previously, Mpho Hlefana was a Senior Specialist in Solutions and Segment Marketing. She was accountable for the development of the marketing strategy for the Converged Communications and Cloud Platform Solutions Business Units. Prior to joining BCX, she has worked for companies such as Dimension Data, MTN Business and Accenture, having held various roles in brand, digital, channel partner, and product marketing.

Mpho has considerable experience in B2B marketing, particularly in the ICT sector and has experience in go-to-market strategy development, event management, branding, revenue generation marketing and strategic planning. She has strong cultural competence leading multidimensional teams and is a dynamic public speaker and team motivator.

Mpho is a graduate of the University of Johannesburg and holds a Master of Commerce in Business Management.

Nollie Maoto, Chief Data and Analytics Officer – Merchant Services, FNB South Africa

Nollie Maoto is a Chief Data and Analytics Officer within Merchant Services in FNB South Africa. She is a multi-award winning CDAO and has recently been awarded the Inspirational Leader of the Year award, Financial Women Trailblazer of the Year 2023 and is a finalist in the InspiringFifty Africa 2023 Top 50 Women in African Tech Awards with the awards which are yet to take place after being awarded Chief Data Officer of the Year 2022 and Data Analytics Leader 2022 in South Africa just to name a few of her awards and recognition.

Nollie is also a coveted Data and Analytics speaker in South Africa and Internationally and has spoken at numerous conferences including in South Africa, USA, Netherlands and Dubai just to name a few. She is also recognized for her mentorship of women across the African continent through her formal mentorship program. And has been recognized for displaying unparalleled leadership values and advocating for gender equality. Furthermore, she is a contributing author.

Nomonde White-Ndlovu, CIO, Bidvest Bank

Nomonde is the Chief Information Officer for Chief Information Officer for Bidvest Bank Limited. A great thought leader in technology and fintech in South Africa. She is an accomplished executive with extensive experience within the tech space.

Passionate about women in business and working with young talent within the technology industry, Nomonde coaches and mentors young people to inspire them to pursue careers in technology and engineering.

Nonhlanhla ‘Noni’ Tshabalala, Senior Manager Product and Platforms: Digital Enablement SA, Multichoice

Noni is passionate about digital transformation and driving strategy execution.

Noni has over 10 years’ experience working across various industries, the majority gained in financial services. She joined Absa in 2013 and has risen in the ranks as a result of her commitment to excellence.

Sne Dlamini (MBA) - Chief Information Officer - Discovery Insure

Sne is a highly experienced IT executive with over 18 years in corporate, 10 of which have been in senior leadership roles spanning across local, regional, and global jurisdictions. Sne has depth and breadth of expertise that spans across multiple industries: FMCG, Mining, Manufacturing, Technology, and Financial Services. Sne is currently the Chief Information Officer, People Leader and Executive Committee Member at Discovery Insure where she orchestrates a team of 170+ IT professionals. Sne is an Exco member of Discovery Insure and the Discovery Group IT Strategy CIO Forum. An Executive with a significant emphasis on Disciplined Agile delivery and measurement of business value metrics, Sne spends her time formulating and executing business and IT strategies, driving organizational transformation (people & digital tech) whilst managing a multi-million Rand P&L. Prior to joining Discovery, Sne was Head of IT for the MEESA region at Danone Southern Africa. Before joining Danone, she was the Head of IT for Africa at Unilever and later a Global Release Manager for Unilever Group, based in Bangalore, India. Sne is currently serving in the International Data Corporation (IDC) South Africa Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Chartered CIO Council of South Africa and recently qualified as a Chartered CIO. In 2023, Sne was recognized as one of the distinguished top 50 IT Leaders (DT50) for her positive contribution to the digital landscape in South Africa. Sne’s contribution to the broader IT industry sees her engaging in industry-wide conferences, thought leadership round tables, IT council & panel discussions and various ‘Women in IT’ forums. She is passionate about mentorship and thought leadership. She was nominated for the inaugural 2023 CIO Awards, which recognizes CIOs who have excelled in their IT capacity within their respective industries. Having worked predominately in the FMCG industry, Sne’s consumer-centric, solutions-oriented, and agile delivery approach sets her apart. She is passionate about the crucial role of technology in becoming a strategic differentiator for businesses. Sne has a BSc in Computer science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as a BCom Honors in Information Systems from the same institution. She also holds an MBA. Sne is a dedicated wife and mother of 3 who enjoys extreme sports, running, reading and is an avid traveler. Her purpose is to ignite the magic within and in turn spark the magic in others!

Thato Sopeng, Chief Information Officer Energy, Sasol

A seasoned Technology professional with 20 years’ experience in leading Tech and Digital transformations within Financial Services, Retail and FMCG and now in the Oil and Gas industry. Passionate about innovation and growing young professionals in Tech. Recent experience includes working with Cloud, Open Banking, involvement with Fintechs and other startups in financial services.