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iWeek 2006 Speaker Profiles

iWeek has not only become a premier event for the Internet community in South Africa but is now an internationally recognised conference. We are proud to announce a line up of international experts and local Internet personalities who will present at this prestigious affair:

Adiel A. Akplogan - CEO of AfriNIC Ltd.
Arnold Nipper - Technical Director, the German Internet Exchange (DE-CiX)
Arthur Goldstuck - Managing Director, World Wide Worx
David Frankel - Executive Chairman, Altirah Capital, South Africa / First ISPA Co-Chair
Dave Gale - Director of Business Development, Storm
David Jarvis - CEO, UniNet
Dr Duncan Martin - CEO, Tertiary Education Network (TENET)
Eric Osiakwan - Executive Secretary of AfrISPA & GISPA (ISPA Ghana)
Esther Dyson - Editor, Release 1.0
Ferdinand Tjombe - Executive Chair, Namibia Strategic Business Communications
(NSBC) / ISPA Namibia
Harald Summa - Managing Director of the German ISP Association eco
James Seng - Assistant Director, Enabler Technologies,
Internet Consultant
Mark Shuttleworth - Director, HBD Venture Capital
Mark Todes - Director, Korbitec / ex ISPA Co-Chair
Professor Michael Rotert President of EuroISPA & of the German ISP Association eco
Patricio Seoane - Chair, ISPA Argentina
(CABASE)
Peter Coroneos - Chief Executive, Internet Industry Association (IIA) - Australia
Radhakrishna Padayachie - Deputy Minister of Communications
Richard Nash - Secretary General, EuroISPA
Dr Tracy Cohen - Councillor of ICASA
Veni Markovski - Snr Advisor, Governmental Agency for Information Technologies and Communications
Vika Mpisane - General Manager, .za Domain Name Authority
Wim Roggeman - President, ISPA Belgium

1. Adiel A. Akplogan - CEO of AfriNIC Ltd.

Adiel A. Akplogan is the CEO of AfriNIC Ltd., the Internet Numbers' Resource Registry for Africa. He has more than 10 years experience in the Internet technology environment and has previously worked as New Technology Director at CAFENet (an IT service company based in Togo 1994-2000) then as IT Director of Symbol Technologies in France (2001-2003). He is member of the UN Secretary General Internet Governance Meeting Advisors Group, he is member of the African Technical Advisory Committee of the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa (ATAC/UNECA) and an accredited expert on Internet Technology governance issues for Agence Intergovernmentale de la Francophonie.

Adiel is also member of the NRO Executive Council (Number Resource Organization) and was involved with the setup of several technical cooperation and knowledge sharing bodies in Africa such as the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG) where he serves as a member of the Administrative committee and the African ccTLD Managers Association (AfTLD).

With a strong passion for Internet technology, he is one of the Internet pioneers in Africa where, in early 90s, he setup and started one of the very first private and independent Internet Service Providers in Western Africa (CAFENet).

He has also contributed and write several article on Internet and IT such as: Network protocol Integration (case of Novell SPX/IPX Network ad an IBM/AS400 using TCP/IP) -10/1994; Internet Technology a short way to development in Africa (10/1996); Internet Security in a corporate environment a continuous process (02/1998); Intranet/Internet a pair for an efficient management of Information in Africa business environment (04/1999); How not to be a spam relay: efficient configuration of Sendmail (May 2000); Wireless architecture a solution for inadequacy of African legacy telecommunication Infrastructure (June 2000); Network Operation Centre: Key component of en efficient Internet Network Service (2001); Internet Governance, the fact (UN/ECA,2002); IPv6: an E-business opportunity. (2003);

Adiel holds an Electrical Engineering degree and a M.Sc. in E-Business Management and Administration.

2. Arnold Nipper - Technical Director, the German Internet Exchange (DE-CiX)

Arnold Nipper is in the Internet industry since 1989. After being research associate at the Computer Science Department of University Karlsruhe he was Technical Director at Xlink and KPNQwest. Since 2001 he serves as technical director of DE-CIX, one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world. Arnold Nipper was also involved in establishing RIPE, DeNIC (German Internet Registry) and DE-CIX. He holds an degree in mathematics from University of Mannheim.

3. Arthur Goldstuck: Director, World Wide Worx

Arthur Goldstuck is an award-winning writer, analyst and commentator on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Internet and mobile technologies. He heads the World Wide Worx research and strategy organization, leading groundbreaking research into critical ICT issues. Clients of the research and strategic services include South Africas major financial institutions and corporations, Government departments and agencies, and international businesses and consultancies.

He led the earliest research into the size of the Internet user population and the extent of online retail in South Africa, which for the first time established the trend lines for Internet growth in this country. He also provides the market with key statistics on mobile communications and technologies, online banking, and other IT, telecommunications and small business trends.

Arthur is author of, among other works, South Africas best-selling IT book yet, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet", and the current guide to mobile technology, The Hitchhikers Guide to Going Wireless. He is a regular speaker at conferences, universities and corporate events.

4. David Frankel: Executive Chairman, Altirah Capital, South Africa / First ISPA Co-chair

BSc (Hons) in Electrical Engineering, Wits University; MBA (Hons), Harvard Business School. 1992, selected for the Foreign Fulbright Scholarship Programme. 1994-99, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Joint Managing Director, The Internet Solution Group; 1998, appointed to the Board of Directors, Dimension Data Plc; 2002, appointed as Short-Term Consultant to Chief Economist and VP, Development Economics, The World Bank, Washington DC; Founder of HealthBridge. Currently: Chairman, Cura Risk; Director, Rand Merchant Bank; Founder and General Partner, Altirah Capital. Voted "South Africa Technology Achiever of the Century" by Financial Mail 2000; World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow 2000 and "Information Technology Person of the Year, 1998" by Computer Society of South Africa.

He was one of the founders of the ISPA and first co-chair for a number of years.

David lives with his wife Tracey & daughter Danielle in JHB, SA.

5. Dave Gale: Director of Business Development, Storm

Dave Gale has over 20 years of experience in the Telecoms industry. As Director of Business Development at storm, he focuses on product strategy and roadmaps, regulatory issues and strategic relationships and projects. Dave completed an MSc in Electrical Engineering at UCT before joining Telkom where he fulfilled various key roles from Operations Manager of their fledgling eCommerce service to Senior Project Manager of Corporate Solutions. He spent 18 frantic months as Service Delivery Manager and then Programme Manager at Iridium Africa. He joined storm in 1999 with a brief to expand the range of products the company sold and ensure sustainable revenue streams into the future. He has been having so much fun, he has not been able to tear himself away since.

Speaking Experience

Daves recent speaker engagements include:

Cape IT Initiative presentation March 2005
University of Cape Town VoIP Convergence workshop May 2005
Customer management SA Telecoms deregulation and the realities of VoIP - June 2005
iWeek Making VoIP work in SA August 2005
VoIP Africa 2006 June 2006

Dave has participated in VoIP conferences and workshops in both South Africa and Europe over the last year.

6. David Jarvis: CEO, UniNet

David graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1993, after completing a degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Between 1993 and 1998 David established and operated an IT and networking services company in Cape Town, and in 1997 he project managed the design of a satellite based distance learning program in Southern Africa, for a company called Lisleo Communications and the Russian satellite agency Intersputnik.

Since 1999 David has been involved in last-mile broadband delivery beginning with his work in Mozambique, where he established the first Wireless ISP in Mozambique, called UniNet. In July 2002 David returned to Cape Town to establish UniNet Communications in Cape Town. Building UniNet in Cape Town provided many personal challenges including facing criminal charges by ICASA (the telecoms regulator) for operating Telecommunications networks in 2003 in South Africa. In spite of this he grew UniNet to provide 85% coverage of the greater Cape Town area and 90% of Knysna district, providing coverage and equal access opportunities to a rural and urban population in these areas of over 3 million people.

David's passion for community development has led to involvement in a number of educational and rural development projects, requiring active participation in pushing the regulatory envelope. As CEO of UniNet for the past 4 years, David's participation in the regulatory reform process has contributed towards bridging the digital divide in Southern Africa which has in turn attracted the attention of the international press and development agencies. In July 2003 David was invited to present at the UN "WiFi for Development" summit in the UN headquarters in New York. Subsequently UniNet was sponsored to present at the Geneva World Summit, and is now listed by the ITU, UNICT Taskforce as a best practice case study. More recently InfoDev, the Information for development arm of the WorldBank, has recognized UniNet's work, and is investigating expanding UniNet's initiatives throughout Africa.

Today UniNet is a recognized licensed operator in South Africa, and both the regulator and the government are proactive in their support of the initiatives with municipalities across South Africa.

David's future interests include the expansion of the R&D division of UniNet to include integration of communications technologies with Biotechnology, Cognitive science and Nanotechnology (NBIC's).

7. Dr Duncan Martin: CEO, Tertiary Education Network (TENET)

Dr Duncan Martin is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Tertiary Education Network (TENET). He joined the Network in January 2001.

TENET was incorporated under Section 21 of the Companies Act on 22 August 2000, and is owned jointly by the Committee of Technikon Principals and the South African University Vice-Chancellors Association.

TENET's main purpose is to secure Internet and information technology services for the benefit of South African universities and associated research and support institutions. The network receives and applies donations for and on behalf of public higher education institutions and is the de facto South African NREN (National Research and Education Network). TENET has direct transit relationships with the European Commission's Gant network and Internet2's Abilene network.

Duncan was the Founding Director of the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking.

COMPUTING SERVICES MANAGER (Aug 1987 - Dec 2000)

Aug 1987 - July 1991: Head of the Centre for Advanced Computing and Decision Support (DATATEK) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria.

Aug 1991 - Dec 2000: Director of Information Technology, University of Cape Town.

RESEARCH DIRECTOR (Apr 1980 - Jul 1987)

Director (and from 1 May 1983, Chief Director) of the National Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (NRIMS) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria.

RESEARCHER (Aug 1977 - Mar 1980)

Chief Research Officer and then Senior Chief Research Officer and Deputy Head of the Mathematics Division, National Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (NRIMS) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria.

UNIVERSITY LECTURER (1965 - 1977)

Sept 1965 - Aug 1966: Assistant Professor of Mathematics, California State College at Hayward, California.

Sept 1966 - Aug 1967: Visiting Professor of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Jan 1968 - Jul 1977: Senior Lecturer in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Natal, Durban.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (1963 - 1964)

Full-time Research Assistant to Professor H Rund, University of South Africa, Pretoria.

8. Eric Osiakwan: Executive Secretary, ISPA Ghana / AfrISPA

Eric M.K Osiakwan is the Executive Secretary both of the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfrISPA, http://www.afrispa.org) and the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA, http://www.gispa.org.gh). He is also a Visiting Fellow and Scholar at the Stanford University and Reuters Foundation Digital Vision Program @ http://reuters.stanford.edu and affiliate of the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School @ http://cyber.law.harvard.edu

Eric has being very instrumental in the propagation of ICTs not only in Ghana but Africa through his activism since 1999. His publications on ICTs in local and regional journals and newspapers both online and offline has played a critical role. His production and presentation of ICT World on Ghanas premier talk station Choice fm from 2001 to 2003 played an important role not only in creating public awareness but generated governments interest in ICTs as a tool for socio-economic development. He was subsequently invited to join the policy team that developed the framework for Ghanas ICT lead Socio-Economic Development Policy.

During the past four years, he has been involved in a number of information and communication technology (ICT) related projects and initiatives in the US, Europe and Africa for a number of Governments, companies, NGOs, and international agencies. He is currently a Consultant to the WorldBanks Information for Development program on Open Access for Africa (InfoDev), to BusyInternet, UNDP Ghana and OSIWA.

He self published a research document on Ghanas Internet Industry (GII). Co-authored The Internet in Ghana with the Mosaic group using the GDI methodology (download) and co-authored the Ghana chapter of Negotiating The Net (NTN) the Politics of Internet Diffusion in Africa (download). He was also invited by the Royal African Society to contributed ideas to P.M Tony Blairs Commission for Africa here.

He is an associate of Spintrack AB, Sweden, Balancing Act, UK and African Analysis CC, S.A. He is also an investor and director of InHand ltd as well as the Converged Technologies Holding Group of Kenya.

He co-founded the Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC) of which he was the Chief Operations Officer for 2 years. He is a member of a number of professional bodies including:

Internet Society (ISOC)
Content Management Professional (CM Pros)
Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN)
Ghana Institute of Information Technology (GIIT)
Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)

Launch of Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX)

On Tuesday 18th October 2006, the entire Internet fraternity in Ghana gathered at the Ghana India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in the company of the Hon. Minister of Communication and the French Ambassador to Ghana to officially launch the Ghana Internet eXchange (GIX @ www.gixa.org.gh). The Ghana Internet eXchange (GIX) is the facility which keeps Ghanaian Internet traffic in Ghana. GIX allows local Internet Service Providers and Network Operators to easily exchange traffic within Ghana, while improving connectivity and services for their customers.

9. Esther Dyson: Editor, Release 1.0

Esther Dyson is a one-person institution focused on emerging technologies, emerging companies and emerging countries. As a commentator, she is editor of CNET Networks' Release 1.0. As an investor, she has funded a broad variety of high-tech start-ups, including Flickr and del.icio.us (both acquired by Yahoo! last year), Yandex (Russia's leading portal), Meetup.com and eventful.com (US Web 2.0 companies) and many others. And as a public citizen, she was also founding chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, from 1998 to 2000. She believes in investing rather than spending, whether for profit or not for profit.

She is a trustee of and donor to Brides.org as well as a number of other NGOs. She is also a member of the (South African) Presidential International Advisors Council on Information Society and Development and, as of this year, the Bulgarian President's IT Advisory Council.

She is known for candor, wit and insight, and considers herself the Internet's court jester. In 1997, she wrote "Release 2.0: a design for living in the digital age," published by Broadway Books and translated into 20 languages - almost everything except French, she notes.

10. Ferdinand Tjombe: Executive Chair, Namibia Strategic Business Communications (NSBC)

Executive Chairman of Namibia Strategic Business Communications (NSBC), Mr Tjombe has been tasked with the formation of a Namibian Internet Service Providers Association, in light of the publicity surrounding the VOIP arrest made in Namibia in recent weeks.

Mr Tjombe is a huge proponent of empowering the youth through the Internet. As the former Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Telecom Namibia for 13 years, Mr Tjombe has been instrumental in Internet development issues in the country. He is also Chairman of WiMAX Networks Namibia (Pty.) Ltd., a joint venture company between NSBC and Nera Networks AS, Norway.

Prior to joining Telecom Namibia, Mr Tjombe served as Editor of a number of daily and weekly newspapers in Namibia. He also did a stint at a South African Sunday newspaper in Cape Town and at the daily St. Louis Post-Dispatch in St. Louis, Missouri. He holds a Certificate in International Telecommunications Management from the Kalmar Institute of Technology, Sweden.

11. Harald Summa: Managing Director of the German ISP Association eco

Managing Director eco, hold a degree in business administration from the Cologne University where he gave lectures in Informatic Science for more than 10 years.

He is founding member of the German Internet Industry Association eco, Managing Director of De-CIX one of the largest European Internet Exchanges. Since 2002 he is Fellow of the World Technology Award, San Francisco.

About eco

eco is the registered association of German Internet enterprises. Founded in 1995, its aim is to enhance the commercial use of the Internet, thereby strengthening Germany's position both in the global Internet economy and as a business location in general. As a body, eco sees itself as the advocate and mouthpiece of German Internet business in all relevant political, legislative and international groupings. It currently represents 300 members, promoting their commercial development as well as providing advice and support to companies whose products and services are available via the Internet.

All of the approximately 150 major providers that form the backbone of the German Internet are members of eco.

12. James Seng: Internet Consultant

James Seng is one of the Internet pioneers in Singapore and is recognized as an international expert in the Internet arena. He gave regular speeches at various forums on several Internet issues such as IDN, VoIP, IPv6, Spam, OSS and Internet goverance issues. James also participates actively in several standard organizations (such as ISO/IEC JTC1 and IETF) and also served on the board/committee of several Internet organizations.

James started his career at Technet, the first and only ISP in Singapore, in 1993 when he is still a student at the National University of Singapore. Technet was subsequently spun out to become Pacific Internet that later had a post-IPO market cap of $1B USD on Nasdaq in 1999.

In late 1998, he founded i-DNS.net (with $24M USD investments from General Altantic Partners and Network Solutions/Verisign) and served as the company Chief Technology Officer for 3 years. Under his guidance, the company expanded its presence world-wide with offices in over 7 countries.

Formerly, James is the Assistant Director in IDA of Singapore and his team tracks emerging and disruptive technologies on Internet and other related fields. His team is responsible for IP Telephony, Antispam, Social Software and Open Source Software.

James also developed several Internet software and services such as Tomorrow.sg (2004), the popular meta blog in Singapore, PObox (1995), a web-based email and forwarding service which has been licensed and commercialized by Singapore Press Holdings now known as PostOne and Singapore InfoMAP (1994), the official Website for Singapore which is currently operated by Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts of Singapore. He has also developed a multiplayer role playing online game (Heroes of the Lance) in 1993.

James continues to developed Internet software and contributing to the Open Source movement as a hobby. He started the IDN-OSS and also contributing codes to the blogging community with several plugins for MT and Drupal 4 Blogger project.

13. Mark Shuttleworth: Director, HBD Venture Capital

Mark studied finance and information technology at the University of Cape Town, and went on to found Thawte, a company specialising in digital certificates and Internet privacy. He sold Thawte to US company VeriSign in 1999, and founded HBD Venture Capital and The Shuttleworth Foundation. He moved to London in 2001, and began preparing for the First African in Space mission, training in Star City and Khazakstan. In April 2002 Mark flew in space, as a cosmonaut member of the crew of Soyuz mission TM34 to the International Space Station. In early 2004 he founded the Ubuntu project, which aims to produce a free, high quality desktop OS for everybody.

14. Mark Todes: Director, Korbitec / ex ISPA co-Chair

Mark is a founding partner and director of software development company Korbitec (formerly Compustat). He headed up their Johannesburg branch from 1991 to 1996 and was a director of their Internet Africa ISP division prior to its sale to UUNET (corporate) and MWEB (dial) in the late 1990's. He was co-chair of ISPA together with Dave Frankel for a number of years.

15. Professor Michael Rotert: President of EuroISPA & of the German ISP Association eco

Professor Michael Rotert is the President of EuroISPA, the organisation that represents Europe's Internet service provider industry. EuroISPA is the world's largest association of ISPs.

Prof. Rotert is a prominent figure in the ISP sector. His work at the University of Karlsruhe in the 1980s established the first connection from Germany to the "Internet"; after setting up one of the first ISPs in Germany, he has since held senior management posts with a number of prominent European ISPs.

His expertise in the sector means he is regularly consulted in government-industry initiatives. For example, Prof. Rotert was part of the German delegation to the G8's Cybercrime Summit.

Prof. Rotert became the President of the German ISP association in 2000 and was elected EuroISPA President in 2003.

16. Dr Patricio Seoane: Chairman, ISPA Argentina (CABASE)

Dr Patricio Seoane a Public Accountant until 1980, has since specialised in Information Technology and Communications.

In 1980 he founded Seoane Sistemas Digitales SA a software development company and in 1989 he became President of SSD SA the most significant computer manufacturer in Argentina.

He 1994 he founded SSDNET one of the first Internet Service Providers in Argentina.

In 2000 PSINet Inc, an international Carrier and ISP took control of SSDNET and he continued working for PSINet Argentina and Uruguay as CEO.

He is currently the CEO of Internet Services S.A., an ISP focused on selling Wireless Solutions and end user connections to small and medium cities based in Argentina. His company, which has been in operation since 2002, has more than 60 cities providing end users with wireless Internet connectivity.

About CABASE

Founded in 1989, CABASE is the association of Argentina that unites ISPs, Telecoms, Data Centres and Suppliers of Content and Solutions for E-Commerce, in the Internet.

In 1996, Dr Patricio Seoane became a member of (Cabase) Cmara Argentina de Base de Datos y Servicios en Lneas.
In 1997 he was one of the founders and developers of Cabase NAP Argentina. The NAP (Network access point) is the facility which keeps Argentinean Internet traffic in Argentina. NAP allows local Internet Service Providers and Network Operators to easily exchange traffic within Argentina, while improving connectivity and services for their customers.
In 1999 he became Treasurer and Coordinator to the Argentinean ISP Commission.
From 2000 till 2001 he served as President of Cabase and has been the President of the association since 2004.

Cabase leads a permanent battle against dominant Telcos monopolies and works with Government Telecommunication authorities trying to preserve competition and similar business opportunities for everyone.

Of outstanding international performance, Cabase is founding partner of eCOM-LAC, LACNIC and the NAP of Argentina. Cabase is also a member of ICANN.

In 2003 Cabase organised the first meeting of Latin-Americas NAP held in Buenos Aires, promoting the consolidation of the NAPs in the region.

In 2004 Cabase together with other Chambers created the Antispam Forum. The main objective is to assist Congress to legislate in the correct direction upon this important issue.

In April 2005 Cabase hosted and organised one of the annual ICANN meetings held in Mar Del Plata City.

The intention of the association is to provide a regulatory framework for its members to tackle the issues at hand, such as presenting at the public hearings held on 18 May 2006 regarding the possibility of a new Telecommunications Law that will allow for Convergence, establishing a Code of Conduct and providing a platform to represent the interest of the members.

17. Peter Coroneos: Chief Executive, Internet Industry Association (IIA) - Australia

Peter Coroneos is the Chief Executive of the Internet Industry Association, the national industry body for the Internet in Australia. In addition to his role as primary industry advocate, political strategist and spokesperson for the IIA, Peter drives the IIA's policy development work and has instigated the formation of specialist taskforces to leverage member expertise in diverse legal, economic and technical areas.

Peter is currently overseeing the development and implementation of industry codes of practice within the IIA representing industry's proactive response to a range of challenging social policy areas within Australia, ranging from cybercrime to online privacy. Peter acts as industry representative on a number of high level bodies and regularly appears before the House of Representatives and Senate inquiries to advise on the development of facilitative and workable rules for the Internet and new media.

18. Radhakrishna Padayachie - Deputy Minister of Communications

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Radhakrishna Roy Padayachie brings with him over twenty three years of experience of dedication and working with the people. He is also no stranger to the Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. Their relationship, first as educators and fellow comrades, spans over several decades. Mr Padayachie has considerable senior and leadership level experience in development work. Throughout his career, as an academic and activist, he has been passionately motivated by his concerns for the development of the disadvantaged. Having made a contribution to the successful realization of political and democratic transformation, he remains committed to the eradication of poverty

We have always said, and maintain, that the Department of Communications operates in an environment that has major historic imbalances in the provision of information and communications technology (ICT). This impacts negatively on the competitiveness of South Africa, since ICTs are central to the development of the country economically, socially and politically. The appointment of Mr Padayachie will definitely strengthen the Department of Communications in addressing enormous challenges, such as:

Correcting the imbalances in the provision of ICT services at reasonable cost
Preparing South Africa to take advantage of convergence of communication technologies
Increasing the human resource capacity in the ICT sector
Advancing universal access
Making South Africa globally competitive by turning the country into a hub of information and communications technology
Contributing towards the advancement of the ICT agenda for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)

Political and professional experience

Mr Padayachie served in various capacities in social movements and community organizations for change and democracy in the country, having risen to and held positions of leadership in the Natal Indian Congress, the United Democratic Front and the African National Congress. He joined the ANC in early 1972 and has been an active member ever since, serving in the underground, political and open mass democratic and legal structures. He was a member of the ANC KwaZulu Natal negotiations team at CODESA.

His ability to engage in good networking relationships with several senior leaders in government, civil society, the business community and stakeholders at all levels will certainly be of great advantage to the Department of Communications. He also possess exceptional leadership, training and motivational skills and the ability to motivate others and develop and work in teams. He is also an innovative, strategic and dynamic thinker and doer.

His skills and experience have been acquired through the following engagements:

As lead consultant to the then Minister of Education S. Bhengu in the development of the White Paper on Early Childhood Development(ECD)
Served as Coordinating Secretary for the African Network on Education for All (Anef). A Unicef and Unesco sponsored project that involved the participation of 18 Ministers of Education and NGO representatives from various African countries
Consultant to the World Bank, Unicef, and Unesco in various assignments on Early Childhood Development project work in South Africa and several other African countries
Project Director for World Bank/Centre for Education Policy Development Study on ECD
In his capacity as the founding national chairperson of the South African Congress for Early Childhood Development (for 4 years) and as Chairperson of the South African Institute for ECD, he has to guide community and grassroots involvement and development of project development work around the needs of children in communities throughout South Africa
Served 20 years as Project Director for the Community Education Development Trust
Served as founder Trustee of the Transitional National Development Trust (TNDT), as appointed by former President Nelson Mandela and Jay Naidoo as Deputy National President of the South African National Coalition of NGOs (Sangoco) in its foundation years, he was assigned the task of representing the body in the TNDT and the development process for the establishment of the National Development Agency (NDA), a development funding institution established by the government
Principal consultant and Director of the national information campaign for the Government ECD pilot project, testing government policy on Early Childhood Development
A variety of other community-based support work spanning from civic, youth, welfare, women and political organizations in Chatsworth and throughout KwaZulu Natal.

Deputy Minister Padayachie holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from the University of Durban-Westville, with Chemistry and Microbiology as majors, and a Masters of Science (MSc) degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of London, majoring in Business Management and Marketing.

Career in brief

Formulations Chemist at Plascon Evans Paints (1974 1975)
Microbiologist at Reckitt and Colman (1976 1979)
Research chemist at Shell Chemical (1979 1980)
Development Director at Community Education Development Trust (1980)
Deputy Minister Padayachie also has extensive business and professional experience, having run his own Business Development and Marketing company for the last few years in Advertising, Marketing and Project Development consultancy work.

19. Richard Nash: Secretary General, EuroISPA

Richard Nash is the Secretary General of EuroISPA, the organisation that represents Europe's Internet service provider industry. EuroISPA is the world's largest association of ISPs.

Richard is also a senior consultant on government and regulatory affairs in the information society sector. As well as holding a senior position with EuroISPA, he advises a number of high-profile companies on EU political affairs, working for the consultancy Political Intelligence.

Richard began his career with a German law firm, where he worked on issues relating to international public and private law. He was also made responsible for a European Inter-Parliamentary working group on Telecoms & Information Society, in which discussions focused on the proposals for the now established EU electronic communications regulatory framework and eEurope Action Plan.

Richard was elected EuroISPA Secretary General in September 2004 and is the senior regulatory and policy advisor to EuroISPA. He works closely with the members to develop EuroISPA's work on issues such as: the role of Internet service providers in responsible cooperation with law enforcement; the promotion of safe use of the Internet; the promotion of competition on the legacy and new infrastructures for electronic communications; copyright in the information society; Internet governance; e-commerce (especially in relation to ISP liability, consumer protection and jurisdiction and applicable law) and network and information security. Richard regularly undertakes presentations on behalf of EuroISPA to explain current industry priorities.

About EuroISPA

EuroISPA is the world's largest association of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), representing the interests of around 900 ISPs across the EU. EuroISPA is a major voice of the Internet industry on information society subjects such as cybercrime, data protection, e-commerce regulation, EU telecommunications law and safe use of the Internet. Its secretariat is located in Brussels.

ISPA SA is proud to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EuroISPA.

20. Dr Tracy Cohen: ICASA

Dr. Tracy Cohen was appointed Councillor of ICASA in July 2004. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Cohen read for a doctoral degree in law (SJD) at the University of Toronto.

She has previously held various teaching and research posts at Wits University, Columbia University, the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and has published various academic articles in her field.

She has also worked as a regulatory consultant and has undertaken various projects for domestic and international organizations, including the International Telecommunications Union and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization.

Dr. Cohen is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in the Graduate School of Public and Development Management and sits on the editorial board for the South African Journal of Information and Communication. She is also an advisory panel member for Privacy International.

Dr Cohen has a Masters in Law (LLM) from Wits University. Her doctoral dissertation focused on telecommunications regulation and international trade in services, concentrating on South Africa as a case study.

Her term of office as Councillor ends in June 2008.

21. Veni Markovski: Snr Advisor, Governmental Agency - Bulgaria

In 1990 he started his work on the Internet.

In 1993 Mr. Markovski formed with another of the Internet pioneers, Mr. Dimitar (aka Mitko) Ganchev, their company - bol.bg, which is also the second in history of Bulgaria Internet Service Provider, and is still running a successful business. Veni Markovski was President and CEO of BOL.BG for nine years. In 1995 he has founded the Bulgarian Internet Society.

In 1999 through his active work, Bulgaria accepted the most liberal laws concerning Internet development. In 2002 Mr. Markovski was appointed the Chairman of the Bulgarian President's IT Advisory Council. Since the beginning of his career, Veni has been involved in different international organizations and programs on different levels - as adviser, senior adviser, advocate for policy changes, mediator, board member, etc.

He is currently the senior adviser to the Chairman of the governmental Agency for Information Technologies and Communications on international projects.

22. Vika Mpisane: General Manager, .za Domain Name Authority

Vika has extensive experience in organizational transformation and development, policy development, and management. He previously worked as a Transformation Officer at the then University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). During his stay, he coordinated various restructuring projects and processes within the University, which saw the University replacing the faculty model with the schools and centres model. He also provided both policy and coordination guidance to the Universitys senior structures on strategic planning towards meeting governments policy and legislative requirements (including employment equity) for the transformation of higher education.

He subsequently moved to Nedlac (National Economic Development & Labour Council) in 2000 where he worked as Programmes Director. During this tenure, Vika supervised and coordinated various Nedlac programmes and processes, and was responsible for the overall project and programme management of all Nedlac structures.

He also managed various research projects. He had a financial management responsibility and had the Finance section reporting to him. His Nedlac experience includes:

Facilitating and coordinating various policy processes, including the National Treasurys Budget Process and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Facilitating and coordinating sector summits including the ICT Sector Summit, Financial Services Sector Summit, Civil Society Summit, and the Nedlac process of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Managing various policy and legislative development processes, including amendments to the labour legislation, minerals & petroleum resources bill, pension funds surplus, and the property rates legislation.
Managing the alternative dispute resolution process in terms of section 77 of the labour relations legislation.
Formulating quality review frameworks and evaluation strategies for various projects.

On leaving Nedlac in late 2002, Vika provided consultancy service on policy development and project management to small consultancies. This varied from studies to training projects. He also rendered advisory services on project conceptualization, project fast-tracking and administrative systems. He later founded Eternity Africa innovations, a consultancy focused on socioeconomic development research and projects.

He joined Cortell International in 2004 where he headed marketing of its business & software consulting services to the public sector. In March this year, he joined the .za Domain Name Authority as its General Manager. He is responsible, amongst other things for the development of policy and business model for the .za name space, and licensing and regulating registries and registrars for the respective registries. He is also responsible for coordinating & leading the Domain Name Authoritys participation in the regional and global domain name organizations such as AfriNIC and ICANN.

23. Wim Roggeman: President, ISPA Belgium

Wim Roggeman has been the President of ISPA Belgium since 2004, which was formed in 1997. This non-profit organisation was created to promote the interests of Belgian companies providing Internet services. Its members account for 97% of all Internet connections in Belgium.

Wim started his career in the micro-electronics industry for ITT in 1982. His Internet career started with UUNET in 2000 as a Product Director. Previously Wim was Network and IT Director at Volvo Cars Europe Marketing and today Wim is Marketing & Communication Manager of the International Wholesale division of Verizon Business, the leading US-based telecommunications company.

Wim holds a degree of Civil Engineer from the University of Brussels and an MBA of the Vlerick School of Management in Gent.

About ISPA Belgium

ISPA Belgium publishes a quarterly market survey on the development of the Belgian Internet market, and is via several working groups also active at a regulatory, legislative and legal level on behalf of its members and the Internet industry in general. Not surprisingly ISPA Belgium is also dealing with rules of engagement in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, infringements of copyright rules (IPI), Internet governance and e-commerce and -applicable laws.

ISPA Belgium is actively involved in stopping child pornography on the Internet and participates actively in fighting racism and hate speech on the Internet. ISPA Belgium developed the first code of conduct for its members and signed the first collaboration protocol with the Belgian Justice Administration in 1999.

Should you have any queries please contact:
iweek @ ispa.org.za