Gavin began his career in advertising as a freelance copywriter and account manager. In 1998, he started a commodities brokering company specialising in stock rationalisation consultation and brokerage. After finishing numerous programmes for quasi state and private organisations, he moved into the consulting arena.

A passion for skills development and strategy phase projects lead him to join Deloitte Consulting in 2005. As part of the Talent and Leadership division, he concentrated on scale recruitment projects and skills development through school-based interventions.

Gavin joined Kommunity group Projects in 2008 after being approached by Kommunity Group’s Founder. From an initial start in the Sales & Marketing, he has moved up to his present position as Head of Strategy for the Tutudesk Campaign, where he is accountable for charting the strategic direction of the organisation, and co-formulation of sponsor strategies incorporating current and future products and services.

Chabeli brings with him over 20 years of work experience including 15 years within the International NGO environment. His extensive time in senior management roles, coupled with the last 7 years as Country Director (CEO) of World Vision South Africa have equipped him with the unique knowledge to assist with driving the Tutudesk Campaign forward through the management of a large scale and complex delivery program. Throughout Chabeli’s time within the INGO environment, his extensive experience has included; community development in developing countries and fundraising experience in the USA realm. Until recently Chabeli was National Director (CEO) of an international NGO with budget of over R100m, staff compliment of 365 fulltime staff and over 500 volunteers, managing 20 programs located in 6 Provinces in South Africa. During this tenure a significant growth phase was pursued, from about $4m (R28m) to over $16m (R100m) in 4 years.

The innovative and strategic manner in which Chabeli approaches business issues lends itself as a highly valued addition to the Tutudesk Campaign team. His dynamic and professional presence, combined with his deep knowledge of the NGO universe is a crucial tool allied to the overall success of the Campaign. This is coupled with Chabeli’s experience with boards, multiple stakeholder groups (including government departments) private sector, various donor communities and community stakeholders.

Chabeli has served on various World Vision International Office advisory roles, including: Partnership Representative Council (advisory council to the International President), WVI Delegate at the Berlin Civil Society Meeting, Management team of the Child Health Now Global Campaign for WV and Inaugural Member of the Africa Regional Working Group for the WV Africa Resource Allocation.

Grant was the CEO of Deloitte Southern Africa from 2006 to 2012, and currently serves on the audit committee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Grant was previously Chairman of the African Children’s Feeding Scheme.

Grant’s vast experience in Deloitte spans over 26 years and includes Lead Client Service Partner across a number of industries, Head of Consulting and Chief Executive of Deloitte Human Capital Corporation. Grant was a member of the Deloitte & Touché Tohmatsu Global Board. As a former teacher, Grant understands the challenges pertaining to the delivery of effective education across Africa and his passion for the mass development and upliftment of children, combined with his deep business experience, offers a tremendous asset to the Tutudesk Campaign Centre.

Grant serves on numerous boards and is an Independent Non-Executive Director at Santam Ltd. and Altron, Inc. In 2013 he was appointed Non-Executive Director of First Rand, and holds the same position at Grindrod Ltd and Eqstra Holdings Ltd. Grant holds various qualifications, including a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), National Diploma in Public Administration, Higher Diploma in Education and Bachelor of Accounting Science.

After graduating from Stellenbosch University with a B.Accounting (Hons), Peter qualified as a Chartered Accountant at auditing firm Ernst and Young. Peter spent a further 2 years in management consulting at Deloitte before joining his family business. Over the years, the Pam Golding Group of companies has grown to more than 2,000 staff with offices throughout Southern Africa and Mauritius. The company enjoys a close working relationship with Savills in international operations.

Peter has been involved in all aspects of his company’s growth, and is responsible for starting the commercial property division of the group, Pam Golding Commercial. Peter serves, and has served on numerous boards, including TBC (an NGO affiliate of the Transformational Business Network) Wesgro (promoting business in the Western Cape region of South Africa) and for a number of years was a member of the Young Presidents’ Organisation.

Professor Shepherd Malusi Mayatula (‘Prof’) is a retired member of the South African Parliament and retired Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education in the National Assembly. Prof. Mayatula holds numerous qualifications including B.Comm; B.Comm Honours (Economics); M.Comm (Economics) and M.A (Economics). In addition, Prof holds a Teachers Diploma (South Africa) and is a former winner of the Fulbright Scholarship and Research Fellowship for the North Eastern University in Boston.

Prof taught economics at the University of Fort Hare from 1975 to 1994 and held positions including Head of the Economics department, Member of Senate, Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Commerce. In 1994, after the first democratic elections in South Africa, Prof was elected as a senior MP and was deployed as the first Provincial Minister of Finance in the Eastern Cape Province, and from February 1998 to June 1999 he was the Provincial Minister of Education in the same province, as well as Acting Premier on various occasions. In 1999, Prof was redeployed to National Parliament as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education, a position he held until his retirement. The responsibilities of the committee included processing all education bills, as well as oversight and monitoring over the Department of Education nationally. Prof. Mayatula retired from active politics in 2009, and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of the University of Fort Hare.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Eduardo moved to Tanzania in the early 60’s where his father, Dr Eduardo Mondlane founded FRELIMO (The Mozambique Liberation Front), and was elected its first president. Eduardo Jr moved to Mozambique in 1975, and from 1977 studied Political Science at UCLA, after which he established Mozambique’s first private events promotions company. In the mid 80’s, Eduardo established an Africa focused trading company and further founded the Mozambique Business Council in Washington DC. In the late 80’s Eduardo moved to Italy to advise firms on the development of infrastructure projects in Mozambique.

Eduardo has performed advisory work for the aerospace industry, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, United Technologies and Pratt and Whitney for six years. In the mid 90’s he returned to the infrastructure development industry working on projects including the Mephanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric Dam. Eduardo also advised the Portuguese government in preparing the groundwork for the successful sale of the Cahora Bassa Dam project to the Mozambique government.

Eduardo is currently a Group Director at ABSA (South Africa) and Barclays Bank (Mozambique) and Founding Shareholder and Chairman of Retail Masters SA, holding the master franchise for the Pick ‘n Pay retail group in Mozambique. He continues to advise various multinational corporations, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique and a regular panellist at Boston University’s African Presidential Roundtable.

Robin is the CEO and founder of the Aperture Group of Companies which provides executive and professional resourcing, staffing, strategic and consulting services to companies in South Africa and across the African continent.

Additionally he is also the founder of Expand Africa, a strategic consulting business facilitating the expansion of companies (from across Africa and internationally), into various African countries utilising a unique model combining country research, risk profiling, strategy alignment, business establishment and partnership negotiation.

Robin is an inducted member of the African Leadership Institute, a Desmond Tutu Fellow (Oxford 2009) and an inducted member of the African Leadership Network (2010). In addition to advising and sitting on a number of diverse boards, Robin has also advised several CEO’s of some of the world’s largest corporations, and played a key role in the strategy development pertaining to The Desmond Tutu Tutudesk Campaign Centre. Robin holds an Honours degree in Commerce (UNISA) in addition to various post graduate courses in tax and corporate finance.

Dan Vaughan has served as Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s aide & advisor for many years, and initially joined the team in the capacity of Chairman of The Desmond Tutu Campaign Centre. Dan has subsequently taken a well-earned retirement, but continues to act as an Advisory Board member.

Trained in organisation and methods with the Western Cape Provincial Administration, Dan was a staff member of the South African Council of Churches for 13 years, working under Archbishop Tutu from 1978 to 1984 and serving as his deputy from the early 1980s.Dan re-joined the Archbishop when he moved to Cape Town in 2003 and has been his aide for the past eight years.  He has travelled extensively with the Archbishop and has also managed his office until and after Archbishop Tutu’s retirement from active involvement in international affairs in October 2010.

Apart from his work with the Archbishop, Dan is an active member in his church community. He is married to Daphne and has 6 children and 12 grandchildren.

Middle East

Salwa Amor lives in London and works as a war correspondent and broadcast journalist.

Specialising in Middle East affairs she has covered events in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel for News Networks including Al Jazeera, BBC, MBC, Current TV, Reuters Thomson, Sky and Euronews. Her Masters was in Creative Media at the University of Bournemouth.

United States of America

Long an advocate on behalf of the world’s refugees and internally displaced civilians, today Professor Judith Mayotte focuses her attention on those displaced because of extreme weather events as she lectures and facilitates courses dealing with the imperative of caring for creation in a changing climate.

Before moving to Cape Town, South Africa as Visiting Professor for the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre as well as at The University of the Western Cape, Judith Mayotte was Women’s Chair in Humanistic Studies and Visiting Professor in the Department of Theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  While at Marquette, she designed and implemented the Marquette University South Africa Service Learning Program.  During the years she lived in South Africa, Mayotte was also invited to be the first Desmond Tutu Distinguished Chair in Global Understanding on the University of Virginia sponsored Semester at Sea ship.  She was founder and Co-Director of Seattle University’s International Development Internship Program and taught in the History Department at Seattle University.  She was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.  She served as a member of the June 1996 Foreign Policy faculty of the Salzburg Seminar.  In 1994 she was appointed by the first Clinton Administration to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration as Special Adviser on refugee issues and policy.  Before joining the State Department, she was Chairwoman of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and served on the board of Refugees International.  Both are well-known advocacy organizations that took Mayotte to the field to assess refugee crisis and repatriation issues.  She served on the board of the International Rescue Committee, one of the largest non-sectarian private voluntary organizations in the United States, and was a Senior Fellow of the Refugee Policy Group of Washington, D.C.  She also served on the boards of The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, the Visionaries Institute, and the Global Ethics and Religion Forum.

She has written extensive reports, articles and editorial pieces, appeared on radio and television, and lectures on refugee and development issues.  She has been called to testify as an expert witness before congressional committees concerned with the status of refugees and the direction of U.S. policy regarding the issue, and she has briefed U.S. Government and United Nations officials.

In 1989, through a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mayotte began research for a book on long-term refugees.  Her three year research odyssey took her to the refugee camps of the Cambodians in Thailand and Cambodia, the Eritreans and internally displaced southern Sudanese in Sudan, and the Afghans in Pakistan, working to document their lives and the conditions that have forced so many of the world’s people into refugee status.  Orbis Books released her book Disposable People?: The Plight of Refugees in December 1992.  Following the book’s publication and until she lost her right leg in an accident in the war zone in southern Sudan, Mayotte continued to travel on fact-finding missions among refugees and internally displaced civilians in many of the African, Asian, and Balkan nations caught up in civil conflict and those hosting refugee populations.

In addition, Mayotte is an award-winning television producer and a teacher.  She began her career as an educator in 1961, and her teaching assignments took her to juvenile prisons, and inner city and suburban high schools.  She continued in that profession after receiving her Ph.D. in historical theology from Marquette University in 1976.

In 1978 Mayotte joined WTTW, Chicago’s public broadcasting station, as the Director of Research for the News and Current Affairs Division.  There she headed research teams for a variety of local and national specials, series, and documentaries.

In 1982 she joined Turner Broadcasting as Senior Researcher and a Producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award winning documentary series Portrait of America.  In 1985 she won an Emmy for writing and producing the “Washington” segment of the series.  In 1986 she joined the William Benton Fellowships in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Chicago as Associate Director and in 1988 became Acting Director.  Judith Mayotte has also worked in the inner cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York among the homeless and newly arrived refugees.

In 2016 Mayotte received an honorary degree from Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI).  In 2014 Mayotte received Loyola University Chicago’s Coffey Alumni Award and an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.  In 2009 Mayotte received the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s World Citizenship Award.  In 2004, Mayotte was selected to be one of 100 international and national persons featured in the Hall of Everyday Freedom Heroes in the Smithsonian National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.  In 2002 she received Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. In 1997, she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Rosemont College in Philadelphia.  In 1995 Mayotte received the Marymount Manhattan College Humanitarian Award and Georgetown University’s Learning, Faith, and Freedom Medal.    She was featured in one segment of the thirteen-part PBS television series and book, Visionaries, in her role of refugee advocate for Refugees International.  In 1994 for her work among refugees, Mayotte received Refugee Voices Mickey Leland Award.  In addition, she was honored with the Marquette Alumni All University Merit Award for Professional Achievement, an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Seattle University, and Refugees International’s 1994 Award.

India

Dipesh Dutt Sharma is the Managing Director (India) at Tutudesk.

Dipesh has an MBA from Drexel University, Philadelphia and spent 17 years of international experience in Information Technology working with the global companies like Ford Motor Company and Sogeti (Capgemini).  He has held consulting and leadership roles in Software Development and Delivery, Quality and Learning & Organisation Development. Dipesh is most comfortable working with people and his strengths are leading large programs and cross-functional, multicultural teams.

Dipesh has recently turned to entrepreneurship, working to convert his passions – food, photography and travel – into a viable business. His latest venture is a Pizza Café’ in Bikaner, a small town in Rajasthan, India.

When not baking Pizzas at his cafe, Dipesh will most likely be found catering to the whims of his three and a half year old daughter and once in a while riding his motorcycle in the Himalayas with his camera and iPod for companionship.