Ben van der Ross is a director of companies. He has a diploma in Law from the University of Cape Town and was admitted to the Cape Side Bar as an attorney and conveyancer. He practiced for his own account for 16 years. He became an executive director with the Urban Foundation for five years up to 1990 and thereafter of the Independent Development Trust where he was deputy chief executive officer from 1995 to 1998. He acted as chief executive officer of the South African Rail Commuter Corporation from 2001 to 2003 and as chief executive officer of Business South Africa from 2003 to 2004. He served on the board of The Southern Life Association from 1986 until the formation of the FirstRand Group in 1998.

Hennie van Greuning joined the World Bank in 1994 from the South African Reserve Bank where he served as financial manager (1986 – 1989) and Registrar of Banks (1990 – 1994). Prior to this he was a partner with Deloitte, where he spent ten years.

During his World Bank career he worked in the Financial Sector Development department as well as the Europe and Central Asia region before moving to the World Bank Treasury, until his retirement in late 2008. He has worked extensively on financial regulatory, securities accounting and operational risk management issues.

His World Bank publication on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS – A Practical Guide) has appeared in five editions and he has co-authored “Analysing Banking Risk” (three editions), “Risk Analysis for Islamic Banks” (first edition November 2007) as well as International Financial Statement Analysis (CFA Institute – November 2008). Some of the books have been translated into more than fifteen languages.

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert is a graduate of Stellenbosch University where he received a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1967. He lectured at various South African universities until 1974 when he was elected to the South African Parliament as a member of the Progressive Party for the Rondebosch Constituency. At the time of his retirement from politics in 1986, he was the leader of the Progressive Federal Party, which was the official opposition in Parliament. He is currently a political analyst. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Simon Fraser University in Canada, the University of Natal and the University of the Free State. He is the author of a number of books dealing with demographics and change in South Africa and is also a member of the board of the Open Society of South Africa N.Y.

Thys Visser is a chartered accountant who qualified with Arthur Young & Company in Cape Town before joining Rembrandt Group Limited where he held a number of positions, including financial director in 1991 and managing director in 1992. He is currently chief executive officer of Remgro Limited.