Warren Hero, CDO/CIO of Webber Wentzel, and former CTO for Microsoft SA, believes in the importance of doing good while doing good business. And the core belief statement: We believe that working together changes lives!
He had a tenure as Chief Information and Operations Officer for Eduloan, a leading provider of study loans in South Africa; he has a keen understanding of the financial services industry.
He has spent most of his career in this sector. From 1999 he was at ABSA as Head of Telephone and Internet Banking; in 2001 he joined Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which had an outsource agreement with Nedbank, on the Corporate and IT desk. On termination of that contract he joined Nedbank in the same capacity; and in 2003 he went to FNB Homeloans as Executive Manager of Customer Experience Management.
Warren was the first of two global Fellows with the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA). The ICA, currently headquartered in Canada, is a non-profit international association that promotes and facilitates the informal exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences in the management, organisational impact and use of information technology in central government administration.
Warren also chairs the SAP SA CRM User Group of the German multinational software corporation.
In 2006 he was appointed Head of Electronic Governance at the Gauteng Provincial Government, on the back of his extensive knowledge of technology and how to apply it in administration.
Warren has a BSc from the University of the Witwatersrand and is completing a dissertation for a Master’s degree in Technology and Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute in Modderfontein, Johannesburg.
While still studying, his career started in 1992 when he worked at the SABC as a freelance presenter. After graduating, his early career path consisted of establishing and managing call centres for various companies, including MultiChoice, DSTV, International Healthcare Distributors and Van de Venter Meiring Attorneys.
Warren, who has completed a range of coaching and mentorship programmes, is certified as a people change management expert by Change First. In his private capacity he has mentored young leaders through the GIBS women’s development programme, Imbokodo.
He participates in structures to ensure ICT access for disadvantaged communities. Other corporate social investment work includes his role in youth development for Youth for Christ, and in community organisations in Kliptown and Sunninghill.
He has also been involved in community and professional organisations, as chairman of the International Network of e-communities (registered in Amsterdam), committee member of the Presidential Commission on the Information Society and Development, and member of the Committee responsible for drafting ICT governance standards for South Africa.
Warren says keeping Eduloan focused on the tasks at hand, while being driven by the purpose of unlocking potential, enables the company to make a unique socio-economic contribution. “To quote Louis Geeringh: ‘In this warp-speed world, past performance is no indicator of future resilience or success’ .Hence our focus on cultivating leadership at every level within Eduloan.”
