TIPS Board and Directors
Chair - Board of Directors
Alan Hirsch was born in Cape Town and educated in South Africa and the US, with degrees in Economics, Economic History and History from UCT, Wits and Columbia University. He also trained at Georgetown University, and was a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School.
He worked as an Economics Lecturer and Economic Policy Research Director at the University of Cape Town from 1984 to 1986 and from 1989 to 1995.
alanh [at] po [dot] gov [dot] za
Director
Mr Jorge Maia holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. This academic qualification was preceded by a Bachelor of Economic Science with Honours from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
jorgem [at] idc [dot] co [dot] za
Director
Ms Fundi Tshazibana joined the National Treasury in 2003. She is currently the Chief Director responsible for regulatory impact analysis. She was previously responsible for microeconomic analysis. She has also worked as a policy analyst at the National Electricity Regulator where she was responsible for policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of electricity sector policies. Prior to that she was a research executive at TNS Research Surveys, a company that conducts market research.
fundi [dot] tshazibana [at] treasury [dot] gov [dot] za
Director
Garth Strachan is the Chief Director in the Industrial Policy and Industrial Development Division at the dti. He has a Masters Degree in Public Finance, School of Oriental and African Studies from the University of London. He held various positions in Provincial Parliament and Provincial Government, Western Cape, including MEC Finance and Economic Development. Garth worked for ANC in exile between 1976 and 1990.
Member
The Director of Economic Rise Consulting, Shirley Robinson is an economist advising on public policy concerns, primarily targeted towards urban and regional economic development.
She holds a master's degree in Business Science (Economics) from the University of Cape Town and has worked extensively in the public sector with the National Treasury's budget team, the Western Cape Provincial Treasury and Premier's Office, as well as in the non-governmental sector, with the Institute for Democracy in South Africa's Budget Information Service.
Shirley [at] econrise [dot] co [dot] za
Member
Rashad Cassim joined Statistics South Africa as head and deputy director general: economic statistics in 2006. For the three years previous to taking up this position, Cassim had been head of the School of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Rashad [dot] Cassim [at] resbank [dot] co [dot] za
Member
Simon Roberts joined the Competition Commission of South Africa in November 2006 as Chief Economist and Manager of the Policy & Research Division. Prior to this appointment he was Associate Professor in economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. At Wits he also directed the Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development research programme, and previously held positions as lecturer and senior lecturer.
SimonR [at] compcom [dot] co [dot] za
Member
Leslie Maasdorp is an economist by training and was appointed an international adviser with Goldman Sachs International in 2002. Previously, he was deputy DG and head of restructuring of state-owned enterprises. He was the senior manager in strategy at Deloitte Consulting between 1995 and 1999. He is a former trade unionist and served as regional secretary of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union in the Eastern Cape for three years.
Member
Stephen Yeo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London. CEPR is the leading European research network in economics, and brings together over 750 European economists who produce applied theory and empirical work on a wide range of economic policy issues. The Centre is the focus of most European research on international economics, financial regulation and European economic integration; and hosts the policy portal VoxEU.
syeo [at] cepr [dot] org
Member
Nkosi Madula is currently the Head of Economic Research and Policy Coordination unit of Department of Trade and Industry ( the dti). He joined the department in 2003 and since then he has played several roles including research and impact assessment; representing the dti at the Economic Sectors and Employment Cluster; heading the Employment Creation Fund secretariat; being the government convenor of the Trade and Industry Chamber of NEDLAC; and serving as a Director for Industrial Policy.
Member
Ravi Naidoo is Group Executive for Development Planning at the Development Bank of southern Africa (DBSA). In this role he oversees the research, information, internal advisory, public policy and planning functions of the DBSA. During 2005-2008 he coordinated work for the Economic Cluster in national government and between1997-2005 was head of the trade union-linked think tank National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI). Naidoo has been active in many international development organisations and networks including the UNDP, ILO, and UN Economic Commission for Africa.
ravi [at] dbsa [dot] org
Member
Dr Thomas has a +18-year track record of outstanding performance as a senior executive, advisor on regional infrastructure and PPPs, development finance, private sector development, risk management, governance, trade and investment, and policy and capacity development in Africa with extensive knowledge of key regional economic concerns in Africa.
