Jo has spent the past 13 years advising multinationals, SMEs and governments on their communication and marketing strategies. Her passion lies at the nexus of communication, leadership coaching and technology and she currently heads up Marketing & Communications for Quixel at Epic Games, creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine. Jo has lived and worked in various countries, giving her a unique perspective on the nuances of doing business across the world. She now calls South Africa her home and lives in Cape Town with her husband and daughter. A lifelong student of human behaviour, Jo holds a joint honours degree in linguistics and anthropology, two master’s degrees in Communications and International Relations respectively and is a certified executive coach. She is currently a PhD candidate in Information & Communication researching communication effectiveness in virtual environments.

Dr Amanda Hamilton-Attwell is the founder and Executive Director of Business DNA providing specialised business communication services, e.g. communication strategies, audits and training, to local and international companies. She holds a Doctorate in Communication Science from the University of South Africa and is an Accredited Business Communicator with the International Association for Business Communicators (IABC).
Dr Hamilton-Attwell was the Chairman of the IABC Africa Region, served on the IABC Executive Board 2011/2012, and was a Trustee of the IABC Research Foundation 2012 - 2014. For the past 10 years, she was a final tier judge on the IABC’s Gold Quill Blue Ribbon Panel. In 2014/15, she was the Global Chair for the IABC Gold Quill Awards programme. In 2014 she was received the IABC Chairman’s Award and in 2015, was awarded Fellow status of the IABC. This is the highest recognition of the profession for the contribution made to the profession and the association. She is currently the Fellows Chair for the 2020/21 term.

Carol Allers, APR, ABC, is a director at CA Business Communication. She has 25 years’ experience in strategic business communication, specialising in issues and crisis communication management. She has in-depth experience of risk, crisis and business continuity management, assessing levels of preparedness, responsiveness and recovering from major organisational crises; building resilience capabilities and capacity.
Carol is currently the Chairperson of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Africa Regional Board (2019/2020). She has served on a number of IABC international committees during the last 5 years. She currently serves on the IABC Blue Ribbon Panel of Judges for the International Communication Quill Awards as well as the IABC IEB Nominating Committee.

Sola Abulu comes to the IABC Board with over 25 years of experience in PR and communication. She has had a rich career working with Shell Nigeria, in various roles including Head of Major Project Communications, Head of Public Relations & Brand and Country Communications Manager. In 2012, Sola worked from the corporate HQ in the Hague as the Relations Manager for Nigeria and was responsible for engaging with international stakeholders outside the country. And as country communications manager and crisis communications lead, she strengthened the communications discipline and robust talent pipeline with world class expertise in strategic communications and crisis management.
In her current role as Principal Consultant for Sola Abulu & Associates (SA&A), Sola advises on corporate strategy, organizational excellence and reputation risk and crisis management. She is also an avid consumer of digital and social media content and in her spare time, champions social media strategy and planning in faith-based organizations in a volunteering capacity.

Mari is a globally accredited business communicator (ABC). She uses the power of communication to positively influence change in individuals, companies and communities, achieving business results and social impact. Mari has won numerous international awards for her work as a communication professional, including being recognised as the Best of the Best by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) four times since 2014. She works with a dynamic team of fellow communicators at DevCom, the communication consultancy she founded in 2005. Mari is an entrepreneur, a mother, a wife, a mentor, a mentee, a volunteer, a professional and a student. She holds a master’s degree in communication management.

Theresa is a skilled and experienced freelance communicator who enjoys her work with all its challenges, because she knows strategic communication makes a difference to business performance. Her last full-time position was as Corporate Communication Manager for Saint-Gobain in Africa, with responsibility for both internal and external communication. During her career of more than 30 years, she has held various positions with organisations such as the Small Business Advisory Bureau of the NWU, Sanlam, PwC and Harmony Gold Mining. As freelancer, she has consulted to organisations such as Business Connexion, De Beers, Mondi, RMB, Scaw Metals, Standard Bank and the Department of Defence. She holds an accounting and auditing degree from the University of the North West (NWU), as well as a post graduate diploma and honours degree in communication. In 2010 she completed the Programme for Management Development at GIBS.

Camilla is a communications, brand and reputation management specialist with over 14 years of experience working in Africa and Europe. With a Masters in Environment & Development from the London School of Economics, Camilla has the unique ability to apply communication and marketing skills to critical developmental and environmental issues.

Throughout her career, she has developed
and led strategic communications initiatives for clients throughout the African continent, from large corporations like Diageo and Dow Chemicals, to development institutions such as the Global Fund, USAID and AusAID.

Camilla worked for the last eight years at The
Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) in the Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability function based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She started at the
company as the Internal & Digital Communications manager for South Africa, taking on more responsibility from 2018 to become the Head of Communications for the Southern & East Africa region, covering 18 countries.

In this role, Camilla led a range of communication strategies, from PR, digital, internal communications and executive leadership communications to crisis management and stakeholder engagement. She implemented strategic changes to the function, including budget re-allocation, reputation measurement, and execution of evidence-based and data-driven campaigns to protect and manage the company’s corporate reputation.

Prior to joining TCCC, she was a senior consultant at Africa Practice (AP), heading up the sustainability practice for the firm. Prior to graduating from LSE, Camilla completed an honours degree in Geography from University College London, and gained a Sustainability Practitioner diploma from the University of Cambridge Programme or Sustainability Leadership. More recently, she completed a 6-month leadership course accredited by the Harvard Business School as part of her leadership training at TCCC.

In January 2021, Camilla founded Silborne Consulting to provide strategic communications advice to agencies, corporates and government departments. Her current work includes supporting the South African and Kenyan Ministries of Health on COVID-19 vaccines communications, and being a strategic advisor to two agencies, Africa Practice and Lifa Communications. Camilla is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mpho is the General Manager for Corporate Affairs and a member of the Executive Committee at Sappi Southern Africa. In her leads strategies that enhance the reputational capital of the organisation whilst ensuring its license to operate. Mpho directs all strategic communication efforts within the business and her portfolio includes employee communications, government and communities relations, shared value, public relations and reputational risk management in South Africa. Mpho is a communication professional with more than fifteen (15) years’ experience across multiple industries including financial services, the health sector and now the forestry (pulp and paper) industry. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), a Post Graduate Degree in Business and BA in Corporate Communications, amongst other qualifications. Mpho sits on the Africa Board for the IABC (International Association of Business Communication) and is a member of multiple committees representing the forestry industry in South Africa. Mpho is also member of the BBBEE Committee for the Department of Economic Development in Mpumalanga. She also represents Sappi Group on the International High-Level Group for EU-Africa Trade Relations. Mpho has published a white paper with the Gordan Institute of Business Science (GIBS) which focuses on the effectiveness of non-executive board directors in South Africa. In 2020 Mpho was a laureate for the Choiseul Top 100 Young Business Leaders in Africa and in 2021 she received an Excellence Award from the International Association of Business Communication for her work in community relations.

Yemi’s rich career of about 20 years has taken him through the Nigerian Banking Industry and global firms, KPMG and Cadbury, and now Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG). At Cadbury Nigeria, he was Communications Manager and led communications strategy development and implementation for several corporate initiatives. Yemi joined NLNG in 2008 and has served the organisation in various roles. He is currently Head of Public Relations and is responsible for managing relationships with multiple stakeholder groups and promoting the Corporate Brand locally and globally. He also manages the administration of the Nigeria Prizes for Science and Literature, NLNG’s flagship CSR project and currently the biggest Prizes on the African Continent. He has been a member of the IABC since 2009 and describes it as a professional family to which every Communicator should belong.

Ziphezinhle Msimango has over ten years editorial experience and started her career as a journalist reporting for publications like the Sunday Times and True Love magazine where she covered lifestyle stories but also had the opportunity to interview many of South Africa's prominent personalities such as Thuli Madonsela, Julius Malema and former President Thabo Mbeki. Five years ago she traded journalism for marketing and communications and is currently with Builders. She’s passionate about public speaking, property and most of all building 1000 piece puzzles and playing Monopoly with her nine year old daughter Ewetse and toddler son Nkazimulo.