NMMU Business School Welcomes New Director Prof Steve Burgess

1 October 2011 - Professor Steve Burgess of the Graduate School of Business (GSB) at the University of Cape Town has been appointed new director of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Business School and commenced his directorship on 1 October 2011. Prof Burgess has brought a wealth of expertise to the NMMU.

"The development of the Business School is one of the key projects of the University in which the new Director will, for obvious reasons, be playing an important role. Prof Burgess brings with him a set of attributes and experiences that makes him extremely valuable given the envisaged development trajectory of the Business School," says NMMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz.

Prof Burgess, who was a Professor in Marketing at the Graduate School of Business (GSB) of the University of Cape Town, has extensive experience within the business school environment as well as management and leadership expertise at a senior level within private business.

Prof Burgess joined the GSB in 2000 from the University of Witwatersrand (WITS), where he was the Association of Marketers' Professor of Marketing. He has been a visiting Professor of Marketing at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University.

He has held positions of major responsibility in business as Managing Director of Autopage Cellular in the Altron Group, of ConsumaData (now part of Experian South Africa) and as a senior marketing executive at Johnson & Johnson. He was the GSB Research Director from 2001 - 2008.

In addition, in 2007, Professor Burgess was recognised with the first ever Marketing Science Institute Visiting Scholar Award by the Marketing Science Institute (Boston, USA). He was recognised previously with the Fisher College of Business International Alumni Award for lifetime contributions to marketing in the USA and South Africa. In 2007, he published his fifth book entitled, "International Marketing" (with Bothma, Oxford University Press).

"We look forward to welcoming Prof Burgess in his new capacity," says NMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz, adding that Prof Burgess will play a key role in the University's Vision 2020 plans for making NMMU one of the top institutions in Africa.