Ms Wendy Ackerman From 1963 - 67 Mrs Wendy Ackerman taught English with the English Academy in Soweto and was involved in teaching English to the black community at night school during her student years. She joined her husband, Raymond Ackerman, in Pick 'n Pay when he acquired the company. Whilst raising a family of four, she has been totally involved in the Group's development of employee benefits and their welfare. She was appointed a Director of Pick 'n Pay in 1981, and is responsible for Employee Liaison, Staff Benefits and Welfare. Mrs Ackerman has been and is very involved in promoting furthering education amongst the needy and underprivileged of South Africa. She is a Trustee of the Ackerman Family Educational Trust Fund which assists students from all over the country with bursaries for tertiary education. She is a Trustee of the Pick 'n Pay Bursary Fund which assists the children of employees. She also instigated Aids Awareness programmes throughout the company. Mrs Ackerman has always had a great love for the cultural arts and has personally assisted several needy individuals to further and establish their musical and singing careers.
Mrs Gabriele Dahl was born in Hamburg, Germany. She worked for the BBC in London and NDR Television in Hamburg and came to South Africa in 1968. Since then she has been a subscriber of the symphony concerts and is currently Chair of the Friends of Orchestral Music, a dedicated music society that has supported the orchestra financially through fundraising events for the last 41 years.
Mr Louis Heyneman obtained degrees in music and journalism at the University of Stellenbosch and furthered his post-graduate studies at the University of Columbia-Missouri in the USA. After a career as a music journalist and magazine editor, he became the Director of the Oude Meester Foundation for the Performing Arts. He was a founding director of the CPO and became the company’s first CEO in 2000. He serves on various trusts and is currently a board member of the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival.
Ms Rhoda Kadalie is Executive Director of the Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust, which was established in 1999 to reward innovative government and civil society initiatives that improve social service delivery. In 1999 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Liberal Arts from the University of Uppsala, Sweden. On the 17th March 2007, her alma mater, the University of the Western Cape, bestowed an honorary degree in D. Litterarum in the Arts in acknowledgement of her past service to UWC and the country in her various capacities. On 10 March 2010, Stellenbosch University conferred a Honorary Doctorate (D.Phil) on her. She received a Human Rights Award in Toronto Canada on 10th August 2003 in honour of SA National Women’s Day. In 2003 she was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University in the USA. Ms Kadalie serves on a number of Boards, is Deputy Chairman of the Baxter Theatre, and has been a columnist for Business Day since 2002, a daily national newspaper in South Africa, Die Burger and Beeld. Her book, In Your Face, was launched in April 2009.
Mrs Felicia Lesch has been a music teacher all her adult life and is passionate about contributing towards the holistic development of young musicians. She was a member of the panel that auditioned the first intake of young musicians for the CPYO. Felicia is currently the Co-ordinator of the Music Certificate Programmes at Stellenbosch University, and also teaches at the Redefine Western Cape Music Education Project, which is managed by Ronnie Samaai.
Mr Pieter Lourens is the Chief Financial Officer of Artscape and has been a member of the CPO Finance Committee since 2003. He completed his articles as an accountant and auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers and later became a consultant in finance and cost management. He resigned from PwC in 2000 to accept an appointment at Artscape. He was appointed by the Minister of Arts & Culture in 2003 to the Audit Committee of the national Department of Arts & Culture, where he served as a member until 2007. An honours graduate from both UWC and Stellenbosch, Mr Lourens obtained his MBA from Stellenbosch in 2001.
Mr Edwin (Eddy) Oblowitz B Com (UCT) CA (SA) CPA (Isr.) serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Stonehage South Africa which provides multi-family office, wealth management and advisory services. In addition, he is a director of various listed and unlisted companies in a non-executive capacity and serves as a trustee of various trusts. He has extensive experience in serving a diverse range of community based and charitable organisations. Mr Oblowitz is passionate about Cape Town and its cultural institutions.
Mr Christoff Pauw is a senior attorney, partner in the firm Werksmans Incorporated of Cape Town, past president of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope, co-founder of the Law Society of South Africa in 1998 and member of its first executive, and a former member of the Board of Control of the Attorneys Fidelity Fund of South Africa. Together with Mr Ton Vosloo he was a co-founder of the CPO in 2000, and has been a Board member ever since. He has assumed responsibility for matters legal and has inter alia been instrumental in the establishment of the Cape Philharmonic Endowment Trust and the Western Cape Orchestral Trust. He is also the chairman of the Stellenbosch Libertas Choir of which he has been a member since 1990.
Mr Ben Rabinowitz (Chair) obtained B.A. (with distinction) from UCT. He was awarded a S.A.C.S. Rhodes Scholarship and holds an M.A. (Oxon) in Law from Brasenose College. He has been semi-retired from the property industry since 2005. He loves music and supports many cultural, educational and other charitable institutions. He initiated the successful campaign to save Oudekraal and is leading the campaign by SEAFA to save the Sea Point beachfront. He received a Civic Honour award last year from the Mayor of Cape Town for community affairs as well as the Inyathelo Philanthropy Award.
