Eastern Cape Chapter

The IITPSA Eastern Cape Chapter Committee is based in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

CHAPTER COMMITTEE

CHAPTER CHAIRPERSON

Prof. Lynn Futcher is an Associate Professor in the School of IT at the Nelson Mandela University and the Head of Department for the Department of Information Management and Governance. As a Professional Member of the IITPSA, she is actively involved as a non-executive board director, Chair of the Eastern Cape Chapter and member of the Women in IT Chapter. Her primary areas of research include information and cybersecurity education and secure software development.  She is passionate about addressing the cybersecurity skills gap in South Africa and bridging the gap between academia and industry, primarily through integrating cybersecurity into computing curricula at South African universities.

Lynn has been actively involved in the IFIP Working Group 11.8 (Information Security Education) since 2005 which aims to promote Information Security Education, Training and Awareness in academia, government and industry by encouraging collaboration and engagement amongst these key stakeholders.  She has taken on several IFIP WG11.8 committee positions including Chair (2014 to 2020), Vice-Chair (2005 to 2011) and Secretary (2011 to 2014). In 2020 she was nominated as a specialist member to IFIP TC11, the technical committee for Security and Privacy Protection in Information Processing Systems.

CHAPTER VICE CHAIRPERSON

Prof. Kerry-Lynn Thomson is a Professor in the School of Information Technology at the Nelson Mandela University, the Head of Department for the Network Engineering Department, and a National Research Foundation (NRF) C2-rated researcher.  Kerry-Lynn is a Professional Member of the IITPSA and committee member of the IITPSA SIGCyber. She is the current Chair of the international IFIP Technical Committee 11 Working Group 12 (11.12) – Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance – and the Vice-Chair of the Eastern Cape Chapter of the IITPSA. She is also a senior instructor in the Cisco Networking Academy Program at the Nelson Mandela University Cisco Academy.  Kerry-Lynn’s research focus is interdisciplinary and includes cybersecurity, cybersecurity awareness and education, corporate culture and the human aspects of information assurance.

Prof. André Calitz is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computing Sciences at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and is a Research Supervisor in the NMU Business School. He has two doctorates, a PhD in Computer Science and a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA). He is a rated NRF researcher and has published extensively in international journals and conferences. He received the 2016 and 2018 NMU Research Excellence Award. He received the IITPSA / EngineerIT National Distinguished Service in ICT Award in 2020. He is a Fellow of the Institute of IT Professionals of South Africa (IITPSA) and Past-President of the Southern African Computer Lecturer’s Association (SACLA).
Belinda Samuels is currently the Senior Manager: Infrastructure Managed Service at  Dimension Data and looks after all the Delivery centres within MEA. Belinda has been in IT for 42 years, and with Dimension data for 23 of those years. Her career started in IT as enterprise engineer and then has been in an IT Management role since 1986.  Her key strengths are Technical Operational and organisational management. Belinda has a passion for her staff, her job and also really enjoys the mentorship part of her role and seeing young people achieve their goals.  Belinda was the recipient of the Eastern Cape Chapter’s 2019, Woman of the year award.  Currently on the committee for the past two years representing IT in Business in the region.
Dr Sue Petratos is a senior lecturer and Director of School of Information Technology. She has been in Higher Education for 30 years. Her passion for education has led to a research interest in e-learning, however, it is her hands-on approach towards student-centric teaching that keeps her alert to the needs of the students. This is what led her to start the GetDigiReady project in 2018. This project addressed the students’ lack of digital classroom readiness, long before the pandemic. In 2021, she saw an opportunity to address the lack of text-book purchases by students and launched a Pilot study to investigate, an e-textbook platform that provides an affordable alternative to traditional text books. She also has an interest in the field of health informatics.

Sue serves on many university committees and has had an impact on many learning and teaching practices. Her passion for education goes hand in hand with her passion to empower others to take charge of their lives for a better future. Sue believes that each person needs to compare themselves to their former selves, and not others, to truly understand what they have accomplished. She believes that each person has their unique purpose, and it can only be accomplished by embracing your uniqueness. Don’t try and fit in, rather stand out by being yourself and demonstrate social responsibility through your actions.

Elana Blom – currently working as a Java Developer for clients in the automotive industry, as well as running the DevOps and Quality team at S4 Integration. I have a special interest in DevOps and creating better, more efficient code which has been adequately tested.”
Harry Paleochoritis‘ area of work at the moment is with MetroFibre, overseeing the Fibre Network and expansion for the East Cape, Sales in the Internet and VOIP environment.

Previously with Telkom Business Corporate division & BCX, managed and supplied IT/Voice solutions to all the Corporate customers in the East Cape and a few in the JHB area.

Kudakwashe Nyamutsambira (fondly known as Kuda) is a Business Intelligence Analyst at the Takealot Group where his primary responsibilities include collecting, analysing and leveraging data to glean valuable insights, patterns and trends that provide strategic guidance and drive business performance.

In his professional career of 6 years, Kuda has worked for various industry-leading firms that span diverse sectors including YOCO (Fintech), BKB Ltd (Agriculture) and the Nelson Mandela iHub (Enterprise Development). He has been highly instrumental in building data products and performing analytical work that significantly accelerated stakeholders’ decision-making capabilities and ultimately led to the accomplishment of key organisational objectives.

Kuda holds a bachelor’s degree in Computing Sciences with Honours. He also graduated top of his class with a Master of Business Administration (Cum Laude) in 2016. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science.

Kuda enjoys travelling and socially playing several sports such as golf, tennis, rugby and running. He has also recently taken up cycling.

Luzuko Tekeni is a lecturer in the Network Engineering department at Nelson Mandela University’s School of Information Technology (NMU). He is also an instructor in the Cisco Networking Academy Program at NMU.  Luzuko earned his Masters of Information Technology (Cum Laude) and is now pursuing his PhD in Information Technology at NMU. His current research project focuses on the security awareness of South African home Fibre users and their home networking devices. His areas of interest in research include Information Security, Cyber Security, Privacy, Communication Networks, and Security Education, Training, and Awareness.