CMO Council convenes first Africa board meeting

The board reflects the expanding membership in the African region and includes a diverse mix of regional marketing decision makers from the hospitality, retail, telecommunications, real estate, financial services, IT/network solutions, automotive and health care sectors.

New data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts Africa's economic growth to be at 6.3% in 2008 with immense business opportunities in the region. In light of this economic prospect, the CMO Council launched a regional chapter to best address the needs and requirements of marketing leadership in the growing region, and to provide a platform for global connections to bridge the African marketing community with senior marketers in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

The CMO Council has partnered with Bizcommunity.com, which has more than 260,000 online subscribers in the region, to bolster its presence and activities in Africa through a number of knowledge transfer initiatives to help global members better understand and respond to changing market conditions in the region. The new Advisory Board will provide insights and recommendations for direction, programs and content most resonant with regional leaders.

The following 18 executives formed the inaugural CMO Council Africa Advisory Board:

• Martin Neethling, Group Marketing Director, Ackermans Group
• Happy Ntshingila, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, ABSA
• Robin Parker, Managing Director, Bizcommunity.com
• Connie de Lange, Group Executive of Marketing, Dimension Data
• Kheepe Lawrence Moremi, Head of Strategic Marketing & Innovation, FNB Commercial Banking
• Roger Neale-May, Managing Director, GlobalFluency Africa
• Noah Greenhill, General Manager of Marketing and Business Development, JSE
• Roland Reid, Sales and Marketing Director, Land Rover South Africa
• Biren Valodia, Executive Director: Chief Marketing Officer, Medi-Clinic Southern Africa
• Heather Third, Director of Special Projects, Africa, Microsoft Middle East & Africa
• Santie Botha, Executive Director of Marketing, MTN
• Anthony Stroebel, Marketing Director, Pam Golding Properties
• Sabine Klisch, Head of Marketing, Psitek
• Sarah-Anne Orphanides, Group Marketing and Communications Director, Standard Bank
• Adam Craker, Chief Operating Officer, Super Group
• Kerry Swift, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, University of Johannesburg
• Enzo Scarcella, Managing Executive Marketing, Vodacom
• Nicola Rule, Chief Marketing Officer, YUM! Restaurants

The kick-off board meeting was hosted at Dimension Data's regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa on August 12 to introduce the Council, its regional partners and give Advisory Board members the opportunity to network with their regional marketing peers. The board also discussed marketing issues and challenges in Africa, topics around accessing global markets, and their areas of strategic marketing interest, thought leadership and professional development.


About the CMO Council
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council's 3,500 members control more than $90 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 6,000 global executives across 57 countries in multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Brand Management Institute, and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.