Ms Gillian Corken obtained the degree MPharm (cum laude) from UP in 1989. She also has a BPharm degree from Rhodes University and completed the INSEAD International Executive Programme (IEP) in France and Singapore.
She currently holds the position of chief executive officer for Africa of the company Quintiles and is based in Pretoria.
Ms Corken was born in Zimbabwe and started her business career in South Africa in 1985.
She held several senior positions in South Africa and abroad, and has citizenships of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and permanent residency in Brazil.
In 1990 she was a co-founder of Clindepharm International, the first research company for clinical contract research in South Africa. She also served as vice-president of this company. Furthermore, Ms Corken is co-founder of two natural products companies, Phytotherapy (Pty) Ltd and Phytoderm cc.
She initiated several community service projects in Brazil and South Africa, which made it possible for many young people to obtain tertiary qualifications.
Dr Micki Pistorius obtained the degrees BA, BA(Hons), MA and DPhil in Pshycology at UP, and was the first person in South Africa to obtain a doctorate on serial killings.
Dr Pistorius currently has a private psychology practice in Pretoria and is an international speaker and lecturer, a forensic psychology consultant and the author of various fiction and non-fiction books.
She started her career as a journalist at, among others, the SABC and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and is a well-known figure in academia and police services globally for her groundbreaking research and work on serial killings.
Sy was the first crime profiler appointed by the South African Police Service and also the first commanding officer of the Investigative Psychology Unit in the Detective Department. She retired in 2000 with the rank of deputy director (full colonel).
Dr Pistorius had been invited to train the detectives of the police services in England, Namibia and France, and was a presenter of various national and international television programmes about crime in Hungary, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Africa
Mr Faried Sallie obtained an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) at the University of Pretoria in 2003. He also has a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand.
He has risen through the ranks to his current position as managing director of the Diamond Trading Company South Africa.
Mr Sallie joined De Beers as a software engineer and project manager at the research division of DebTech. He was later appointed as personal assistant to the chairperson of De Beers and as secretary to the De Beers South African Executive Committee.
During this period, he worked on a project to prepare De Beers Consolidated Mines for its historic empowerment transaction.
In 2005, Mr Sallie was seconded to De Beers Corporate Strategy in London, where he managed major components of the organisation-wide rollout of the purpose, vision and values of the group.
He was appointed as a director of De Beers Botswana and De Beers Prospecting Botswana in 2006.
Dr Saurabh Sinha obtained his BEng (cum laude), MEng (cum laude) and PhD degrees from the University of Pretoria.
He is currently employed by UP as lecturer and researcher, and serves as consultant for Business Enterprises at University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd.
At a fairly young age, Dr Sinha was elected as chairperson of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), South Africa, and was invited to serve on the IEEE Membership and Geographic Activities Board as a representative of the Educational Activities Board (EAB).
Dr Sinha pursues research in the field of microelectronics, in particular radio-frequency circuits, and his most recent perusal has been in the field of mm-wave microelectronics.
In 2007, he received the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers’ (SAIEE) Engineer of the Year Award.
Dr Sinha is the managing editor of the only locally accredited journal of electrical engineering in South Africa – the SAIEE Africa Research Journal.
Prof Karin Skawran obtained her BA, BA(Hons) and MA degrees from the University of Pretoria. She also holds a DLitt et Phil from Unisa.
At the age of 34, when it was not usual for women to be in senior academic positions, she was appointed professor and head of the Department of Art History and Fine Arts at Unisa.
At that stage, she was already internationally recognised as an expert on Byzantine art and went on to become one of South Africa’s leading art educationists and doyenne of South African art historians.
Prof Skawran played an enormously influential role in developing art education over many years through her positions, such as at the Matriculation Board, the South African Certification Board, the Arts Committee of University Principals and Umalusi.
She served three terms as a member of the Board of Trustees of IZIKO ‒ the National Museums of Cape Town ‒ and also served on the ministerial committee preparing policy on the arts from 1994 to 1996.
Prof Skawran received many awards and has mentored many students, published widely and held her own exhibitions.
Mr Jack van der Merwe obtained the degrees BSc(Engineering) and BSc(Hons) (Engineering) in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s SED programme.
As CEO of the Gautrain Management Agency, he has been overseeing the building and operation of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link in Gauteng since its inception in 2000.
Under his leadership, the project has developed into the largest public-private partnership-type contract in the history of South Africa.
The Gautrain project had won numerous international awards even before its total completion.
In 1999 Mr Van der Merwe was promoted to the rank of superintendent-general of the Gauteng Department of Transport and Public Works while also serving as project leader of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, one of the ten Blue IQ long-term economic development projects of the province.
In 2003, he was elected as UITP’s vice-president for Africa. This organisation is a worldwide association of urban and regional passenger transport operators, authorities and suppliers
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