John Aitchison - Director
Professor John Aitchison was Director of the Centre for Adult Education until 2001 and also Head of the School of Education, Training and Development from 1999 to 2002. He became the first Head of the new School of Adult and Higher Education in December 2004 until his retirement at the end of 2007. He is a graduate of the University of Natal (where he obtained postgraduate degrees with distinction). He was banned and restricted from 1965 to 1976 because of his activities in exposing forced removals by the apartheid government in rural areas of Natal. He has played a significant role in adult education in South Africa, particularly in developing adult education and adult basic education policy at both national and provincial levels.

Ms Debbie Budlender
Debbie’s academic background is in economics, sociology, mathematics and computer programming. She obtained degrees through UCT (BA Economics, MA Industrial Sociology) and Unisa (BSc Computer Science and Mathematics). She has worked predominantly in the fields of gender, labour and economic analysis, sociology of law, education, statistics and budget analysis. While at C A S E she has been seconded to the Women’s National Coalition, the Law, Race & Gender Research Unit of UCT, and to Statistics South Africa as a consultant on gender, labour and other issues. She has also been the overall editor and co-ordinator of the South African Women’s Budget Initiative. Debbie is currently working with the Centre for Actuarial Research. She joined C A S E in 1988, and she is also a board member since 2001.

Mr M Motala
Mohamed Motala is a policy and research professional dedicated to social and economic justice. He has extensive experience in public policy formulation, management, monitoring and evaluation supported by strong research and writing skills. Having worked at a senior level in both the Public and Development sector Mohamed has developed strong conceptual, management and planning skills. He has organisational and working experience ranging from community development to management of national programmes, trade unions, government.

Mr E Hassen – Independent Consultant
Ebrahim-Khalil is an independent researcher and policy analyst. His research and policy interests are in social and economic justice. He is also reading for a master's degree, which examines asset redistribution in South Africa.He is currently a Research Associate at the Centre for Poverty, Employment and Growth at the HSRC and a member of the COSATU Economics Panel. Previously, Ebrahim held positions at the The National Labour and Economic Development Institute and the Gauteng Provincial Government.He currently serves on the board of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry and is on the advisory board of the International Consortium for Law and Development, Boston University.

Ms J A Glennie – Director, South African Institute for Distance Education
Jennifer Glennie is the founding director of the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), a non-profit organization committed to increasing access to lifelong education for all South Africans.  SAIDE is known for advocating, developing and propagating quality distance education methods in the Southern African context.  As a member of the Minister’s Council on Higher Education, Jenny has been active in the formation of the Higher Education Quality Committee.  She is the South African government’s representative on the board of the Commonwealth of Learning; has contributed to the transformation of Unisa through membership of its council; is the founding president of the National Association of Open and Distance Education in South Africa; and is chairperson of the board of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry. She worked for 15 years in a range of capacities from course developer to director for the Sached Trust – a prominent anti-apartheid education organization. She holds an honours in mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand and a master’s from the Institute of Education in London. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning and, in 2007, was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal by the University of Pretoria for her contribution to education.

Dr S Hassim - Associate Professor, Department of Politics, University of the Witwatersrand
Shireen Hassim teaches Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand where she is associate professor in political studies. She has worked on the South African women's movement for several years, and has lectured and published on gender, politics and development, exploring the politics of representation, social policy and citizenship. During 1999, she was a member of the Gender and Elections Reference Group of the Electoral Institute of South Africa, and co-edited the Elections bulletin. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Womensnet, a website for women. Shireen holds a doctorate in political science from York University, and wrote her dissertation on the politics of the South African women's movement from 1980 to 1999.

Ms L Ndlela - Director, Palmer Group Development

Lindiwe Ndlela is a director of PDG (formerly known as Palmer Development Group), a consulting firm that provides policy, strategic and management support to the public sector. She has worked in the in the field of democracy and governance since 1995. Lindiwe has previously worked at IDASA’s Local Government Information Centre as a researcher and programme manager and was the Director of the Knowledge Sharing Programme at the South African Local Government Association. She also serves as a board member for IDASA and CASE.