The Trustees of Telkom Foundation consist of four Telkom Executives and three external Trustees persons. These members may be revised from time to time as deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees. As they currently stand, the Trustee members are:
Prof Nongxa was appointed as the Chairman of the Telkom Foundation on 1 December 2013. Prof Nongxa retired in 2013 as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). He returned to the University in March 2014 as the Founding Director of the Centre of Mathematical and Computational Sciences. He obtained a Bachelor of Science (1975), Honours (1976) and Masters of Science (1978) from the University of Fort Hare and a Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford University (1982). He has served in various leadership positions at the University, which include Chairperson of the Review Committee of the National System of Innovation appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology, member of various advisory committees constituted by the Foundation for Research Development, member of the Senate of the University of the Western Cape, founding Chairperson of the SASOL Inzalo Foundation, Chairman of the Higher Education South Africa Research and Innovation Strategy Group, Chairman of TENET, a South African NREN and Board Member and Trustee of various educational trusts.
Qualification(s) : DPhil (Oxon.)
Gladys Machinjike is an Executive at Telkom; responsible for Financial Accounting and Reporting (Group Finance). She also serves as a Trustee on the Telkom Retirement fund, where she is a member of the Investment and Audit Committees.
Qualification(s): BCom, Certificate of Theory in Accountancy, CA (SA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
Ian Russell is currently Chief Administration Officer for Telkom.
Ian is British, and has lived in South Africa since 2005. Previous South African roles have included Head of Procurement for South African Breweries (SAB) Ltd, Group Integration Director, Chief Administration Officer and Chief Procurement Officer for the Absa Group.
Ian holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Wales and an MBA (Distinction) in Strategic Procurement from Birmingham University, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS).
Amongst other activities, Ian has set up the Telkom FutureMakers enterprise development programme, aimed at stimulating the sustainable development of small businesses in the technology sector.
Qualifications: BSC(Hons), MBA
Enzo Scarcella was appointed Chief Marketing Officer at Telkom in February 2014. Before joining Telkom, Mr Scarcella was Managing Executive of Marketing at Vodacom where he was responsible for leading the brand’s migration from blue to red. Over the past 18 years, Mr Scarcella has managed some of South Africa’s most prestigious brands, including Castle Lager, M-Net and Edgars. In 2011, he was voted “Marketing Personality of the Year” by his peers in the Sunday Times Top Brands survey.
Mr Scarcella spent five years in the USA, completing his education at the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and thereafter obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) from Harvard University. He also has a diploma in Marketing from Kellogg School of Business in Chicago, Illinois.
Qualifications: BA(Hons) Dip. Marketing
Alphonzo joined Telkom on the 3rd of January 1984. He is a 31-year veteran and held various positions in the organisation.
Alphonzo Samuels was appointed as Chief Technology Officer at Telkom in February 2014. Prior to this, he served as Managing Executive: Network Infrastructure Provisioning from July 2010 and as Group Executive: Wholesale and Marketing Operations from November 2007 until June 2010.
He has held various senior management positions in numerous divisions during his tenure at Telkom, including Broadband Technology, Planning, Engineering, Operations, Capital Project Management and Human Resources. He also completed a nine-month assignment with SB C (AT&T) in 1998.
Alphonzo holds a B. Tech and a National Technical Diploma in Telecommunications as well as a National Diploma in Human Resource Management. He has also completed numerous Executive Leadership Programmes.
Qualifications: B Tech. NatTech Dip (Telecoms) NatTech (HR)
Mr Moolla is Chairman of the Foundation's Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee. He currently holds the position of Executive for Shared Services Centre under Group Finance at Telkom SA SOC Limited after establishing a multifunctional shared services centre for the company in 2011. He held a position in Internal Audit where he served as Senior Manager responsible primarily for the company's revenue audit.
Qualification(s) : BCom, Honours, MBL, CIA, CCSA
Linda Vilakazi is an educationist involved in numerous educational programs. She is a Visiting Associate at the Wits School of Education where she co-founded the Executive School Leadership Program. A teacher by profession who has over the years broadened her skill and knowledge into various fields. Her work profile includes teaching; holding senior positions at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); Thebe Investment; The African Leadership Group; City of Johannesburg; Bridge; and others. Linda is a non-executive director on various Boards and currently chairs both the Thebe Foundation Trust; and the JMBusha Investment Board. She is a UNIFEM award winner; an ALI Fellow; an ENSP graduate; and past President of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg. Her world view is driven by the need to provide social justice for all.
Ms Isaacs was appointed on the Telkom Foundation's Board of Trustees in 2015. She is an independent international consultant who specializes in the role of digital technologies in enabling quality education for all. She is also a qualified Professional Consciousness Coach®. She has worked with a range of international and local organisations including UNICEF, UNESCO, The Commonwealth of Learning, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and the Department of Basic Education. She was formerly the founding Executive Director of SchoolNet Africa, Education Director at Mindset Network, Partner Development Lead for Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group in the Middle East and Africa, Program Director of eLearning Africa, Senior Program Officer for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Director of the Trade Union Research Project (TURP). Currently she serves as a Trustee for The Lewis Foundation, as member of the Board of Directors of Bridge, on the Steering Committee of Online Educa Berlin and as a member of the Advisory Board of the New Media Consortium Horizon K-12 Report. She has authored a number of reports and papers related to technologies in education and human development in Africa and served as Editor for The eLearning Africa Report in 2012 and 2013.
Mr Garach is a business consultant and an independent non-executive director. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the KZN Growth Fund Managers. He is also an appointed trustee of the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF), an integral player in social housing and urban rejuvenation. He serves on the audit committees of both the NEF and GPF. He served on the board of Hoskens Consolidated Investments Limited and chaired the audit and risk committee until January 2012. He served as a chief operating officer for Deutsche Bank in South Africa from May 2005 to November 2007, as part of the BEE transaction completed with Utajiri Investments.
Qualification(s): BCom, Postgrad DipAcc, CA (SA)
Dr Jantjie has extensive experience in the government, business and developmental sectors. She began her career focusing on community development and in the public sector she focused on mental health and social development. Within the business sector, she worked as a senior manager in human resources focusing on wellness, training and transformation. She served on the Board of South African Business Coalition against HIV and AIDS (SABCOHA) and is a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa (IoDSA). She is currently the Managing Director and executive consultant at Talent Net Consulting (Pty) Ltd. Her passion is to empower women and youth and she is an active mentor and coach.
Qualification(s): PhD, Management Advancement Programme (Wits)
Laetitia Rispel is Professor and Head of the Wits School of Public Health and also scientific director of the Medical Research Council Health Policy Research Group in the Centre for Health Policy. She has published on different aspects of health policy and health systems research central to many of the issues involved in re-structuring and transformation of the South African health system in the post-apartheid period. On 2 September 2015, she was awarded one of 42 new DST/NRF SARChI chairs for South African women.
Laetitia is a member of the editorial board of the international Journal of Public Health Policy. She serves on the governing council of the World Federation of Public Health Associations since May 2011. In January 2014, Laetitia was appointed as the vice-chair of the Board of the Office of Health Standards Compliance, a regulatory authority that will oversee and monitor quality of health care in South Africa. In October 2014, she received the Wits University vice-chancellor’s academic citizenship award for her contribution to the development and growth of the Public Health Association of South Africa and to the growth of the discipline of public health both nationally and internationally. She was appointed on the Board of the Telkom Foundation in July 2015.
Qualifications: PhD (Wits University)