SAIGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- High Output Management Intel CEO
Brian graduated from UCT with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours). He has completed the Civil and Commercial Mediation Course through the African Centre for Dispute Settlement at USB. He has attended numerous courses at UCT including Marketing Management, Strategic HR Management, Organisational Change Leadership and Nomadic Marketing. At USB he has attended System Thinking in Organizational Design, Project Management and Change Management.
Brian established and managed the Human Resources department of a leading FMCG company for 24 years. He was responsible for job analysis, organisational design, manpower planning, recruitment, induction, talent management, dispute resolution, industrial relations: drafting recognition agreements and substantive agreements with trade unions, retrenchments, organisational restructuring, closing down of various business units, CCMA representation, mediation, conciliation, dispute resolution, arbitration; corporate governance & training development programs, coaching, implementing compensation system, performance management, organisational renewal and organisational change management.
Brian has extensive experience in the field of education. He has chaired a number of school boards, governing bodies and alumni organisations. He consults to a number of schools with a particular interest in staff development. Having realised that many staff are competent in subject matter, they require leadership, management and personal development skills.
He has extensive knowledge of Public Relations and communications, having consulted to a number of organisations. Particular skills include conducting a communication audit, surveying stakeholders and target markets, drafting a comprehensive and practical report, drafting newsletters, drafting speeches for senior managers, press releases, advice in communicating in a crisis and organising launch events.
Brian served as a director for ten years and has a particular interest in leadership development: the coaching, developing and mentoring of new managers, executives and directors. He sits on and chairs a number of boards and is particularly interested in developing and mentoring highly functional boards by incorporating character and value based leadership, outcomes based management, and good governance.
Brian's interest include endurance sports. He believes nothing in life is achieved without meticulous planning and passion.
Job Titles:
- IT, Systems and Processes
Chris's tertiary education, career choices and personality combine well to position him in the role of consultant to any business needing assistance, or guidance, in the use of technology - specifically Information Technology. Having completed his BSc Electronic Engineering at UCT, he spent his first eight years working in high tech electronic development companies. Here he experienced the excitement and pace of building solutions that used leading edge technologies, while also developing the discipline needed to ensure the intended results were achieved within the time and budget available.
Chris then started a business whose mission was to provide companies with cost effective Information Technology solutions that helped them run efficiently, minimise risk and leverage any relevant advantages that IT could provide. Having built this business into one of the most respected service providers in the Western Cape, he merged with another, similar, organisation which he was part of building into one of the top service providers in South Africa.
During these 29 years of engineering and of entrepreneurship, he has gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding regarding technology, business and how the two can be combined to get the best result. This combination is termed "Business Technology".
His strengths include process, solutions architecture, marketing automation, data manipulation and analysis, change management, project management and working with people to find and build technology solutions. Chris is an independent thinker who prefers to challenge the norm in finding better ways to achieve a result. Chris enjoys running, playing golf, following the stock markets and spending time with his family.
Janet spent 25 years working for a leading FMCG company. During this time she implemented a number of policies, procedures, systems and structures across the business. From purchasing, production, regulatory affairs, stock control, distribution, marketing and selling. She was a company director for ten years reporting to the board with over 100 direct reports.
Janet has completed a number of training courses including the prestigious Strategic Business Leadership (USB).
Janet started Saige in response to the increasing need of companies experiencing similar growing pains to those she had helped alleviate during her corporate career. Using her experience, she developed the Saige Activation Model™ which she has implemented successfully in a number of businesses.
Her strengths include: strategic planning, strategy implementation, business reviews, company audits for mergers and acquisitions, strategic marketing, brand architecture and development, sales, planning, regulatory affairs, costings, staff development, coaching and mentoring.
Janet is one of the country's leading complementary medicine experts and the technical advisor to the Health Products Association.
Janet's interests include athletics a discipline in which she was awarded provincial and national colours (junior). She believes that the rigorous discipline and constant striving for excellence required of a professional athlete can and should be replicated in one's personal and professional life.
Julie was born and lives in Cape Town. She has a Business Science Degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT) specialising in Finance and Accounting. In 2011 she completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting (UCT). In 2015 she obtained her Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning from the Free State University.
Julie completed her articles at Grant Thornton where she was exposed to a wide array of industries and clients of varying size throughout South Africa, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, and the USA. Clients she audited included financial institutions, fund managers, NGOs, the property sector, and the engineering sector.
As an auditor Julie has experience in drafting the annual financial statements, preparing the taxation calculations, performing audit work on both full IFRS and IFRS for SME clients, experience in valuations for investment property and DTI claims.
Julie completed her articles having been in the top three articled clerks in all three years and joined Sygnia Asset Management in the Client Service Department. The company experienced rapid growth and Julie was involved in the listing on the JSE where she assisted setting up Sygnia Securities Accounts as well assisting with the trading desk during listing week.
Julie left Sygnia to join a team from Investec Equity Partners who were tasked with forming a new industrial services group - InServe. Her initial responsibilities were to assist the team with the formation of the group. Areas covered included: dealing with the Competition Commission, managing trademark issues, entity valuations, registering with SARS, CIPC requirements, statutory requirements and financial model building.
Once the group was formed and finalised Julie was involved with running a number of internal, PR and conference events managing the initial brand positioning, establishing an effective marketing campaign and establishing clear and effective group communications. She was also responsible for the financial management of the HoldCo; planning and organising Board and Exco functions [agenda, board packs, board presentations, organising the meetings]; mergers and acquisition calculations of new entities coming into the group; repricing of the group debt of R2.2b, and audit queries.
Julie resigned from InServe to move back to Cape Town and start a family. During her maternity leave she got a distinction for a UCT Digital Marketing Course. She joined Saige in February 2018.
Julie believes that sport has taught her the benefits formulating a dream, planning meticulously to achieve those dreams, and executing them with a fierce and passionate commitment. She brings these characteristics to her career. She regularly competes over the standard marathon distance having completed the Cape Town Marathon on three occasions. She achieved South African Schools colours for canoeing and has completed a number of marathons. Julie rowed for the UCT 1 st VIII whilst at university. She has provincial colours for water polo and has completed a number of trails including Kilimanjaro. Julie sees life as an adventure not a threat.
Kirsten is a full time millennial and a part time designer. She is currently studying in her second year of Business Science specialising in Finance at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
She has a passion for art and creativity. She achieved an A for Visual Arts in her final IEB matric results.
Ruth has a Bachelor of Science Engineering (Civil) from UCT, a Strategic Marketing and Management Development Program from the Harvard Business School, and completed the Strategic Leadership Program at USB.
Ruth spent 20 years as a marketer in the FMCG and pharmaceutical sector operating at executive level. She has worked with and developed brands in a number of different countries including the United Kingdom and Australia. Her strengths include brand architecture, the development and positioning of new brands, new product development, strategic marketing, market research, marketing development and digital marketing. Further areas of expertise include advertising both above, below and through the line. Ruth has briefed and developed a number of print and film campaigns. Being an engineer, one of her natural strengths is project management: in particular turn-key operations, organising events, marketing and sales conferences, developing new products and brands. She has trained, coached and mentored and developed a number of brand managers.
Ruth was awarded a triple blue at UCT and achieved provincial colours in four sporting disciplines. Sport nurtured self-awareness, self-discipline and a structured, persistent approach to achieving excellence. She transfers this ethos into her consulting work.