Strategist, economist, change catalyst
Keynote | Facilitation
Dr Miriam Altman is a highly respected thought leader, strategist and economist. She has deep experience in economic policy research and, unusually, also at the coal face of major transformation initiatives. She brings unique, deep and surprising insights to her audience, focused on practical ways of understanding and charting through local and global economic uncertainty.
She has held top leadership positions – as Chief of Strategy at Telkom, responsible for crafting and orchestrating its turnaround, as Executive Director at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) where she led its work on the economy, poverty reduction and employment promotion, or as a two-term member of the National Planning Commission in the SA Presidency and one of the authors of SA’s National Development Plan.
Currently, Miriam is Director of Altman Advisory where she supports governments and companies in their economic and commercial strategies. To date, this has involved African market development in e-commerce, education technology, electrical hardware, tourism and communications. She is lead drafter of the SA Government’s National Infrastructure Plan 2050.
She is a Professor of 4IR Practice in the Dept of Economics, University of Johannesburg, and was previously associated with UCT, Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai. Miriam has economics degrees from McGill University, the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Manchester.
