William M Gumede is Associate Professor, Public and Development Management and former Convener, Political Economy, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and Professor, Management, Elsenburg, Stellenbosch. He is a multiple no. 1 bestselling, award-winning South African author.

He is the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Democracy Works Foundation, the Founder of the Institute for Social Dialogue, and Independent Chairperson of the Negotiations to Establish a Multiparty Coalition of Opposition Parties for the 2024 South African National and Provincial Elections.

He is an Advisory Board Member of the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin and Advisory Board Member of the Global Reporting Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

He ran the course on public policy, including how to put together the National Budget for Members of Parliament of all political parties in South Africa. He ran the programs for Members of Parliament of the British Commonwealth on financial management of Parliaments and how to conduct themselves ethically as MPs, for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. He taught an economic development program for members of the South African National Cabinet.

William M Gumede was the Independent Advisor & Chairperson of the KPMG Public Interest Fund, stress-testing the KPMG governance strategy following a series of public corruption scandals, which threatened the collapse of the company in SA, establishing the KPMG Public Interest Fund and was Chairperson of the fund, in which the equivalent of the alleged corrupt money was deposited to be distributed to social enterprises and charities and community groups to tackle inequality, poverty and corruption.

He was a Member of the High-Level Task Team of President Cyril Ramaphosa advising government on the restructuring and professionalization of the South African public service. He co-chaired the South African government’s 2009 Developmental State Conference.

He is Co-Founder and Co-Convener, of the Drakensberg Inclusive Economic Growth Forum, organized under the auspices of former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation, bringing together Cabinet members, government, business, and civil society leaders to discuss the key development priorities for the country.

William M Gumede was the Co-Founder & Co- Principal Author of South Africa’s 2010 Development Report. He was the Co-Founder of the Public Sector Audit Forum, established under the auspices of the National Treasury and the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa, to improve the capacity of public sector audit committees.

He modeled South Africa’s Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the National Treasury’s Infrastructure Project Preparation Fund (IPPF) and William M Gumede was a member of the team that established the Green Fund of South Africa.