Director

Tamzin Ractliffe

Tamzin Ractliffe is an award-winning venture catalyst and entrepreneurial leader in charitable and social development, impact investment and strategic advisory practice. She has worked across the public, private and civil society sectors to drive greater impact in the application of capitals to social and sustainable development. With foundation degrees in Commerce, Anthropology and Economics, and an Honours in Applied Psychology, Tamzin completed her MPhil in Climate and Development with ACDI in 2014, focusing on environmental citizenship and sustainable consumption. Awarded the GIBS Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007 and appointed an Ashoka Fellow in 2008, Tamzin won the Thomson Reuters 2012 TrustLaw Innovation Award for the Impact Exchange and was a finalist in the Buckminster Fuller Award for the design of solutions to address 21st Century challenges in 2009 and 2010 and a Finalist in the Global Development Network Award for the Most Innovative Development Project (2009).

Geordie Ractliffe

With a PhD (Zoology) in freshwater ecology and more than 20 years’ experience in river and wetland management, including planning and hands-on experience in mitigating impacts of construction and built infrastructure, water resource development and environmental flows, Geordie has lectured to undergraduate and postgraduate courses, supervised theses, written over 50 papers, reports and reviews.  More recently Geordie has focused on issues of literacy and learning.  She has a deep commitment to contributing to finding solutions to the education crisis in South Africa and is passionate about improving access to quality teaching and resources. She retrained as a teacher in 2014, earning her Post-Graduate Certificate in Education with Distinction at UCT. She is currently leading the Trust’s ALERT (Access to Learning through Responsive Teaching) programme.

Geordie has a long history of political and social activism, President of the Students’ Representative Council at the University of Cape Town at the height of the anti-Apartheid struggle in the 1980s, and part of a delegation to meet the African National Congress in exile in 1989. She served as a regional organiser for the National Union of South African Students. As a post-graduate student, Geordie served on UCTs Council and on a commission into student governance.

Alexei Du Bois

Alexei is a Commonwealth Scholar and NRF Doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, completing a PhD focused on Education for Sustainable Development in various Southern African countries. He has worked on policy contributions for UNESCO, DFID and the World Bank, and with the British Council teaching in Mexico. Before coming to Oxford, Alexei was a teacher in Cape Town, where he directed the Luleka Exchange Programme – a multi-school partnership that facilitated curriculum exchange and professional development as well as leadership capacity building in South African public schools.

Catherine Cameron

Catherine co-founded Agulhas Open Knowledge in 2003 and leads the Agulhas practice in the areas of sustainability and climate change. She has held a number of advisory and board positions, and is currently Chair of the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Aviation consortium (including Airbus, BA, Rolls Royce, NATS, TUI & Virgin Atlantic). Catherine is a Visiting Professor at University of Essex Business School, and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) at the University of Surrey.

Dr Gary Kendall

Dr Gary Kendall has been working at the intersection of business strategy and sustainability for more than a decade. Prior to joining Nedbank in 2013, he was Deputy Director at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and previously served as Executive Director at SustainAbility in London, where he advised numerous blue-chip organisations on how to strengthen their business strategies with enhanced systems intelligence.

Gary’s career in sustainable development began when he joined WWF International’s Climate & Energy team in 2006. Gary is the author of the WWF publication on electromobility titled “Plugged In”. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Liverpool and has held a season ticket with Liverpool FC since 1991.

Chair

Mike Freedman

After graduating from Oxford University with an honours degree in English, Mike Freedman began his working life as a copywriter, then creative Director and ad agency partner, winning many international awards, including world’s best copywriter. After breaking his neck in a car accident, he began a portfolio career that spans research, brand development, think-tanks, urban futures, writing and social impact, propelled by the belief that he has consolidated these interests into FreedThinkers.

Trustee

Gillian Kettaneh

Gillian Kettaneh has worked as a corporate lawyer, project financier, strategic investor in the emerging markets since 1989. She started her career at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (New York), then spent 10 years working for development finance institutions – The World Bank (Washington DC), The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London) and the International Finance Corporation (Johannesburg). Following the IFC she worked for Royal Bafokeng Holdings, the asset management company for an indigenous South African community with commercial assets of GBP 3 billion. Gillian has a BSc Economics degree from the London School of Economics; Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is currently a trustee of the Impact Trust South Africa and Bioversity International (UK). Her interests are in the areas of sustainable natural resource use, innovative financing mechanisms and community development.

Simon Peile

Simon was born in Zambia in 1962 and moved to Cape Town a few years later He has worked and lived for periods in London and in Sydney, subsequently joining a British adventure travel company to work as an overland expedition leader. After four trans-Africa expeditions and two around South America, and a short spell as a white-water rafting guide back in Australia, Simon returned to Cape Town and to his profession as an Actuary, quickly rising to be the leading consultant at South Africa’s largest firm of consulting actuaries. In 2003, he and his wife, Magda, also an actuary, joined forces to start an investment management company. In 2015, their company, Sygnia, was listed on the JSE and the company continues on a strong growth trajectory under Magda’s leadership. Sygnia is considered a disruptor in the financial services industry and as a fintech company places a lot of focus on the use of new technologies in delivering investment products and financial services at low cost to consumers. In March 2017 Simon stepped down from some of his responsibilities at Sygnia to be able to his focus time on multiple other initiatives. Simon graduated from UCT in 1984 with a Bachelor of Business Science degree, majoring in Actuarial Science, and qualified as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in Edinburgh in 1987.

Trustee

Anthony Notcutt

With a background in finance and ten years experience in the banking industry, Tony switched to fulfil a career in leisure and hospitality management, establishing his own business in the New Forest in 2007. Passionate about securing South Africa’s future, he has spent the last three years committed to supporting development initiatives that unlock the potential of youth and vision a resilient future.