Marcel Golding was born in Johannesburg on 29 June 1960. He holds a BSocSc BA (Hons) at the University of Cape Town. Marcel started his career as lecturer and tutor at the University of Cape Town, 1980. In 1983 he became the Research Writer for the South African Labour Bulletin. From 1985 to 1993 he worked as the senior official and the Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. In 1993 he proceeded to become the Speechwriter to President Mandela prior to the latter’s election as President of the Republic of South Africa, a position he held for a year. After this he was appointed Member of Parliament as the Chairman of the Mining and Energy Committee, and also Chairman of the Audit Commission. In 1997 he co-founded, and till 2014, served as Executive Chairman of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), a publicly-traded company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) which is valued today at R17 billion. In 1998 he founded and served as CEO of South Africa’s first and only independent free-to-air television station, e.tv. Till 2014, he transformed e.tv from a single-channel business to a diverse media group, Sabido Investments, with news services, digital offerings, production, distribution and publishing. Since 2015 he has been managing the family business and investment portfolio.

Professor Soudien is a consummate professional within the education and social sciences space. He is an A-rated researcher and, over the years, has made significant intellectual contributions to a range of discourses pertaining to, inter alia, social difference, culture, education policy, comparative education, transformation within academia, public history, and popular culture. His expertise in these areas, combined with his experience in academic leadership, has been applied in various contexts, including as Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town. His extensive track record extends from being a teacher in high schools in Johannesburg and Cape Town, working as a field worker for the Wilgespruit Trust and as a temporary lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in the Department of Politics, to professor in the School of Education and in African Studies at the University of Cape Town. Professor Soudien has made seminal contributions throughout his career, especially in the education and social sciences. He has published over 240 articles, reviews, reports, and book chapters and is the author of 13 books. In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Soudien has vast experience in educational leadership, serving on and chairing many different committees and boards. He is a fellow of several local and international academies. He has served as an advisor to the government, various universities, and an impressive range of community-based and other organisations. He is the founder of the District Six Museum. Currently, he serves as the president at Cornerstone Institute. He’s the Chairperson of the Independent Examinations Board. He is also an Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University and an Adjunct Professor at Cape Peninsula, the University of Technology.

Dr Adrian Sayers is a social and economic development, planning and labour market researcher and practitioner. Since its establishment in July 2012, he has been a founding director and shareholder of Tri DEV Worx AFP Pty Ltd, a specialist research consultancy that pursues sustainable socio-economic development through the application of innovative solutions. Adrian was awarded a doctorate in 2006 by the University of Cape Town for a dissertation titled: Development, Transformation and Freedom: Critical Perspectives on Development, Transformation and Freedom with reference to a Social and Economic History of the State, Markets and Civil Practices in the Western Cape of South Africa, c. 1910-1948. As a result of his subsequent practical research explorations, he was invited to contribute to prominent international scholarly events such as the International Conference on Emerging Directions in Decentralized Participatory Planning: Theory, Practice and Roles of the Planner, 2011, and the Development and Inequality in the Global South Research Institute, 2009. Dr Sayers is the founding Executive Director of the Western Cape Provincial Development Council, a position which he held for over a decade over the period 1996-2008. Between 2008 and 2012 he has served as a technical consultant and facilitator for the Mpumalanga Office of the Premier and GIZ to assist in establishing a provincial development council in Mpumalanga. Adrian is also a former Western Cape Regional Secretary and National Executive Committee and Central Committee member and Regional Education Officer (Free State, Western and Northern Cape) of NUMSA and COSATU Regional Economic Development Working Group Co-ordinator. Between 1989 and 1994 he was also a co-chairperson of the Western Cape Economic Development Forum. Before his involvement with NUMSA he also served as a trade unionist with SAMWU-CTMWA and CCAWUSA. While still at university he also worked as a researcher with the Southern Africa Labour Development Research Unit (SALDRU), School of Economics, UCT.

John Volmink was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. He started his academic career at the University of the Western Cape where he graduated with a BSc degree in mathematics, physics and applied mathematics, and a BSc (Hons) in Physics. He later completed a Masters and PhD in Mathematics Education at Cornell University, Ithaca NY, United States of America. John started his professional career as a high school teacher and later became the Head of Mathematics at the then Peninsula Technikon. He also held various other teaching positions at other institutions, including the University of Western Cape, University of Cape Town and Cornell University. After 10 years in the USA and a brief stay at the University of Botswana, Gaborone, he returned to South Africa in 1991. He got involved in development initiatives as the Director of the Centre for Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education in Durban. John later served as Campus Vice-Principal at the then University of Natal and thereafter, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Partnerships at the University of KwaZulu-Natal until 2004. During his term at the UKZN he was responsible for partnership programs with business, government and the community and served as the Executive Director of the Development Foundation of the University. John has also been centrally involved in curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa and has been asked by all four Ministers of Education to play a leading role in the transformation of education in the new South Africa. He served as the Chairperson of the Umalusi Council for many years, and more recently, he also served for two years as the CEO of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU). John is currently the Chairperson of MIET Africa and continues to provide leadership on the boards of several other South African and international non-governmental development organizations involved in education, health and community upliftment. He has also been involved in a Leadership Development Program for members of parliament and holds the position of Extraordinary Professor at North West University, Mafikeng Campus. After 25 years away from Cape Town, John returned and refurbished the house in Athlone in which he grew up and where he now lives again. John and his late wife Engela, who was also a teacher, worked together in voluntary community-based educational projects in the Athlone area with a focus on young people.