Please allow me to be the first to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and festive period on behalf of the SATUG board and a prosperous 2012.We trust that you will be well rested and be kept safe to join us at The Emerald Casino and Safari Resort in Vanderbijlpark on the banks of the Vaal River in March 2012. This venue came up trumps and was selected by 69.2% of participants in the online Venue Preference Poll. This serves as proof that we listen to our delegates and vendors alike and would like to please you by once again presenting a very successful, informative and enjoyable event in 2012. We are proud to announce that the Key note speakers have been secured e.g. Mark Payne Hewlett Packard VP of BCS EMEA on Monday the 12th of March and Clem Sunter a very well known local speaker on Tuesday 13th of March. Mark Payne was promoted to Vice President and General Manager for BCS, EMEA in Spring 2010. As the leader of this division Mark is responsible for sales, marketing, and product management of the complete HP high end Server range including Integrity Blades, X86, NED and the recently launched Superdome2. This represents a $ billion business for ESSN. During the last two years Mark has held key positions within the EMEA Sales Management team, and has been instrumental in driving the direct route to market business to record sales as well as in improving the Enterprise Server and Storage share in HP's global accounts. Before joining the HP Sales organisation in 2000, Mark has worked in Finance and HP Services functions. Mark is an experienced sales professional; in his 22 year career with HP he has held a variety of roles including Client Director for O2 in the UK followed by various sales management positions including Enterprise Server and Storage Sales Director, UK&I. Mark is a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA), married with 4 children and lives in Hampshire, UK. Clem Sunter was born in Suffolk, England on 8th August 1944 and was educated at Winchester College. He went to Oxford where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics before joining Charter Consolidated as a management trainee in 1966.
In 1971, he moved to Lusaka in Zambia to work for Anglo American Corporation Central Africa. From there he was transferred in 1973 to the Head Office of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa in Johannesburg. He spent most of his subsequent career in the Gold and Uranium Division, serving as its Chairman and CEO from 1990 to 1996. At the time it was the largest gold producer in the world. He was until recently Chairman of the Anglo American Chairman's Fund, which in a recent survey was rated the premier corporate social responsibility fund in South Africa.
In the early 1980s, he established a scenario planning function in Anglo with teams in London and Johannesburg. Two members were Pierre Wack and Ted Newland who previously headed up the scenario planning department at Royal Dutch Shell and then acted as consultants to Anglo for over a decade (after their retirement from Shell). Using material from these teams, Mr. Sunter put together a presentation entitled 'The World and South Africa in the 1990s' which became very popular in South Africa in the mid-1980s. In it, two scenarios were offered for South Africa: the 'High Road' of negotiation leading to a political settlement and the 'Low Road' of confrontation leading to a civil war and a wasteland. South Africa took the High Road. Two highlights for Clem were a presentation to FW de Klerk and the Cabinet in 1986 and a visit to Nelson Mandela in prison to discuss the future just before his release.
Since 1987, he has authored 14 books some of which have been bestsellers. His other main interest is seeking to mobilise the private sector in the war against HIV/AIDS.
He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Cape Town for his work in the field of scenario planning. He was also voted by leading South African CEOs as the speaker who has made the most significant contribution to, and impact on, best practice and business in South Africa. In 2006, he was invited to give a scenario presentation at the Central Party School in Beijing - a rare privilege for a foreigner. He also facilitated sessions on global warming in New Delhi and London. We wish to thank those delegates and vendors who have taken the opportunity to makes use of our Early bird registration offer and urge the rest of you to follow suit before 31 December 2011. Thereby you will be included in the draw for the early registration prizes which will be on offer for the lucky winners. Early registration of especially vendors will allow us to compile a useful and professional conference package and program and will assist in our planning the event to satisfy your every need. Vendors who have committed their support by registration or pledge include, Hewlett Packard, Integrated Research, Gravic Inc, CSP, Crystal Point, Etinet, Comforte, XYPRO and many more to come.Please be reminded that we have also included the Data Centre Management leg into our program and are working on some local and international companies to participate in the conference. Pieter Rostoll Chairman SATUG |
