HSRC appoints two deputy cheif executive officers
DATE: 12 October 2010
HSRC appoints two deputy cheif executive officers
The Human Science Research Council (HSRC) has announced the appointment of two deputy CEOs to support the CEO, Dr Olive Shisana.
Dr Temba Masilela has been appointed deputy CEO for research and Mr Peter Pedlar deputy CEO for operations and capacity enhancement, with effect from 1 November 2010.
The deputy CEO research is a new position which will play an oversight role in the HSRC’s various research areas, including education, health, economic performance, governance and service delivery, and innovation.
The role of the deputy CEO operations and capacity enhancement, which is also a new position, will be to ensure high performing teams that provide overall support to the whole of the HSRC.
The HSRC is a public research institution which is mandated to foster and undertake strategic basic and applied research, inform policy development and evaluate policy implementation, stimulate public debate, build research capacity, and foster institutional linkages within South Africa and on the continent.
CEO Olive Shisana said that following the recent restructuring of the organisation to align its research thrust with national priorities, the top management structure of the HSRC was being streamlined to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness.
“The deputy CEO for research, Dr Temba Masilela, will have specific responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the research programmes and improving the use and impact of our social science research. He has played a crucial role in promoting the humanities in the HSRC and is expected to further supervise the development of this area of research”, Dr Shisana said.
Before joining the HSRC in July 2006, Dr Masilela worked for a number of years as a special adviser to the minister of social development in the government of South Africa. He has also worked in the areas of corporate citizenship and reputation management, in both commercial (Telkom SA Ltd) and academic settings (Centre for Corporate Citizenship, University of South Africa). In addition to a PhD from the University of Iowa, Dr Masilela is an alumnus of the senior executive programme run by Wits and Harvard Business Schools. His wide-ranging research interests include social policy, public management reform, social innovation, media and democracy, health communication, and stakeholder engagement. At the HSRC he has led project teams on the Youth Policy Initiative (YPI), social innovation, knowledge and transformation, the World Social Science Forum, and the African Knowledge Producers Series.
He has published in various journals, including Africanus: Journal of Development Studies, Africa Media Review; Innovation: The European Journal of Social Sciences; and the Journal of Third World Studies; and has authored chapters in books.
Mr Peter Pedlar is a University of the Western Cape and University of Stellenbosch alumnus with a BCom (Honours). He has a Diploma in Law and Tax from the World Bank/Federal Reserve in Washington DC, and has attended the Harvard Senior Executive Programme through the Wits Business School.
He brings solid leadership experience, progressing from a background of financial management for various corporations, to leadership positions in government as group executive at the department of science and technology for corporate services and governance. He was also acting CEO for the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and chief of Regulatory Affairs and Procurement. He has currently been an executive director in management consulting specialising in corporate finance, corporate governance and IT security.
At the HSRC, Mr Pedlar’s role will be to lead directorates of operations, finance, legal services, supply chain management, human resources, information services and information technology. He will also lead the capacity enhancement directorate whose units are institutional collaboration, researcher trainees and staff development.
These roles are closely aligned to his experience of successfully leading his departments through clean audits, managing multimillion budgets and managing several staff members from diverse backgrounds.
ENDS