Richard Harris
President

Born in Cape Town, completing his schooling at King Edwards in Johannesburg, Richard went on to study Hotel Management in SA.

He has lived in the UK, Spain, Switzerland and has called the UAE (Abu Dhabi) home since January 2002.

Richard is the Owner of Leaders Insurance Brokers, Life Division

A former Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Harlequins, his other sporting passions involve golf and squash.

Ilana Meyer
Vice President

Ilana Meyer is head of Corporate Solutions at Acuma.

I have an economics degree and post grad diplomas in financial markets and instruments.  I have worked in the financial industry for 20 years, focusing on product delvelopment, training and network development for companies like Allan Gray, Investec and the First Rand Group.  I am married to Dean (CFO for an infrastructure delvelopment company( and have a son Nicholas who is 10 years old.  We left Cape town 7 years ago to experience expat like and seven summers later we are only occasional visitors to our family home at De Zalze in Stellenbosch.

I have a strong background and in my role as the head of corporate business at Acuma ( a financial practice)  I deal mainly with other corporates in the UAE.  We have lived through many changes in UAE in the past 7 years and now more than ever the South African industry needs a strong  business council to represent us and to build commercial ties within the UAE.

I am an enthusiastic golfer, enjoy paddling my surf ski around The Palm and recently took up running.

Phebus Georgiades is founder of Grand Grill

As Operations Manager in the Game Retail Group (R.S.A), he was in charge of opening nine (9) new Game Retails stores.

As a franchisee in 1995 of The Diggers Steakhouse, this was the beginning of Phoebus's career in the service and hospitality sector.

As an active member and sponsor of SABCo, Phebus and The Grand Grill have been contributing towards special prizes and supporting the council where ever support is required./

His outstanding attributes are his Operational excellence, coupled with exemplary leadership of people skills.

As a leader of this dynamic and competent team he commands committed, dedicated and enthusiastic followership from his team.

Henri Schomper is Managing Director at MD Integrity Risk Consultants FZE

Henri holds a law degree for the University of Pretoria in South Africa, which he completed in 1988.

Since then he has had various roles including working for the Public Prosecutor in Soweto, and leading the anti-corruption task force, which dealt with especial Police Corruption and Illegal Gambling.

In 1999 he joined MasterCard Worldwide and was task to open a Security and Risk Service department in Dubai for the Middle East and North African Region.

Henri is a keen golfer, enjoys reading, writing and riding his motorcycle. He has also been liaison officer for various International Seven Rugby Teams for the past three years.

He studied at Tuks & Unisa and majored in Marketing and Business Management

In 1999 he joined Vodacom as sales & Marketing Manager and worked for them until 2007. In 2007, Nicholaus opened his own restaurant/café; he then left to come to the Middle East

In 2008 as the Ribs & Rumps Brand Manager.

Nicholas in now the Global Head of Marketing and innovation for Foodfund International.

Foodfund has stores located in Middle East, Africa, United Kingdom and Australia.

An Entrepreneur and seasoned business women with more than 20 years operational, management and consulting experience.

Started her career in Eskom, an electricity utility company in South Africa, as a graduate in training and worked herself through the ranks to senior-executive management.

In 2005 she relocated to the UAE and took up the position of HR Divisional Manager in the Al Futtaim group, whereafter in 2007, she founded a management consulting and IT company - goBlue International LTD. She later partnered with a back office management services company - BOTH UAE - based in Abu Dhabi with a branch office in Dubai, that provide company set-up and business services (HR, Administration, compliance, PRO, and accounting services) to new and established businesses in the UAE.

She holds a BA(HONS) degree in Industrial Sociology (Organisation Development) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, Operations Management Post Graduate Diploma from the University of the Witwatersrand Business School, South Africa and was an exchange student at the Univertsity of North Carolina, USA .

Her key to success is perserverance and passion for what she does and her vision is to expand her business into the GCC and South Africa.

She is married to Andries Heystek and they both thorougly enjoy the outdoors, sport and love to travel./

She believes that she can make a difference by supporitng and promoting the SA community in the UAE by demonstrating the work ethic and uniqueness of all South Africans.

Gabby Pitso
Social Desk

I've been living in Dubai for 11 years and have worked in various fields during that time. From Sales, Admin, Facilities Management and Office Management. I've done freelance Event management during that time as well. Born and bred in the Mother City with a go-get attitude. Reading and writing goes under my hobbies section and so does a good get together with good friends.

Natalie Warren
Immediate Past President

Natalie Warren was born in Phalaborwa, on the border of the Kruger National Park. Her family then moved to Cape Town where she completed her schooling in Stellenbosch. At a young age Natalie realized that she needed to work in an environment which enabled her to be involved with people and went off to complete her ND in Marketing and Advertising.

Natalie's career at Sasol started on a project in the UK during 1996 and then she joined them full-time in Johannesburg during 1997 and has been with them ever since. She has managed to move herself through the ranks from Marketing Assistant to Sales and Marketing Manager in the Middle East and has been based in Dubai since 2007.

One of Natalie's passions is cooking and traveling, so most of her spare time is either spent in the kitchen or traveling the world in search of the new best cuisines. To stay in shape she spends time doing Pilates and swimming.

Jo Brown
General Manager

Jo Brown the General Manager was born in South Africa, her parents having emigrated from Holland.

Married to Peter Brown a British citizen for 23years, and has one son Jason Brown currently completing his A Levels at Christ College Breton Wales

 On arrival in Dubai, August of 2006, her career to date has been consolidated into three critical areas namely project management, sales, marketing and communication.  She has obtained through her roles a real understanding of companies' needs and requirements to ensure the smooth running and effectiveness of the enterprise.  She also has extensive key industry knowledge with strong inter-personal, communication and organizational skills from various positions focusing on corporate strategies and objectives

Jo is an avid reader, golfer and photographer.