Advisory Board Members

Dr Robin Drennan

Dr Robin Drennan has a PhD in Chemistry from Rhodes University, awarded for the investigation of pyrotechnic reactions. He has practiced as an applied researcher in a public company, AECI, and a science council, CSIR. He worked at the National Research Foundation where he managed many different programmes. In 2011 he joined the Wits University as Director for Research Development. His role entails leading, encouraging and supporting research.

Dr Drennan has won a Golden Quill award (2010) for research reporting, a SARIMA award (2017) for distinguished contribution to the Research Management Profession and has recognition from the IPRC as Senior Research manager.

 

Dr Lerato Khumalo

Dr Lerato Khumalo is Manager: Climate Change at Exxaro and holds a PhD degree in Chemical Technology from the University of Pretoria. She has more than 16 years of experience and expertise in climate change and air quality management, with previous employment in the environmental consultancy and mining sectors.

She is responsible for climate change mitigation and adaptation through the development of Exxaro’s decarbonisation plan. Dr Khumalo actively participates in climate change forums on a national and international level.

Prof. Nithaya Chetty

Prof. Nithaya Chetty is Dean of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a theoretical and computational solid state and condensed matter physicist. He was a Fulbright Fellow to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he completed his PhD in 1990. 

He currently serves as Vice President of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) responsible for membership matters, and also serves as Chair of the IUPAP Working Group on Physics and the Green Economy.

Steve Nicholls

Steve Nicholls leads the mitigation team at South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission. Steve works with a range of stakeholders to build consensus on net-zero pathways for each sector of the economy built on a strong fact base, while supporting capacity building and cooperation within the modelling community in South Africa.

His key focus areas are, understanding future competitive economies and the investments required to enhance South Africa’s economic competitiveness while creating employment and reducing inequality and poverty.

Tony Frost

Educated at the Universities of Natal, Cape Town, South Africa and Wits, Frost has served as the Athletics Coach at Wits in the 1980s and represented South Africa in athletics. For many years, he was a senior commentator for SATV. He is also a keen photographer and was once a private pilot. He has served as the Chief Executive of the World Wildlife Fund in South Africa and on several WWF global committees. He has also served on the Percy Fitzpatrick Advisory Board, as the Chair of the Southern African Wildlife College and as a board member of the South African National Biodiversity Institute. 

Yolan Friedmann

Yolan Friedmann is currently the CEO of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, one of the largest conservation NGOs in southern Africa. She also serves as Board member of the South African National Parks (SANParks).  A key focus of Yolan’s career has been leadership development and strategy facilitation. She has participated in programmes such as the Gordon Institute for Business Science Nexus Development Programme (2006), the African Leadership Seminar and is a Fellow of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship (2007).

Yolan was invited to participate in the Crans Montana Forum in 2015 and was selected as a GreenMatter Senior Fellow in 2014. Yolan is an avid long-distance runner and competes with her dogs and horses in agility and dressage, respectively.