Robyn de Villiers Chairman and CEO: BCW Africa (Burson Cohn & Wolfe)
Robyn is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of BCW Africa. She has been engaged in public relations, corporate communication and training, both in South Africa and across the continent for 25+ years. BCW Africa, the unique network of indigenous, in-country communication consultancies she founded, provides local and international clients with market-relevant, integrated communication services in over 50 African markets, and is recognised locally and globally as the premier communication network on the continent. Robyn is widely known as a leader in the industry, having been recognised in 2016 by the Holmes Report, with an EMEA SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement, in 2017 as the Financial Mail AdFocus Industry Leader of the Year Award and in 2019 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African industry PRISM Awards.
Robyn’s experience includes issues and reputation management, communication strategy development, crisis communication, public affairs and investor relations and she is widely-known for her contribution in the areas of training and skills development across the continent.
In 2019, disproving the theory that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, Robyn attained a Masters in Executive Coaching from Ashridge University, part of Hult International, in the United Kingdom, was accredited as a Commercial Mediator in South Africa and completed a certificate course at INSEAD on “Leading across Borders and Cultures”. In addition, Robyn holds a BA (Languages) degree and is a Chartered Public Relations Practitioner (CPRP). Robyn is the Vice President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), a member of the Advisory Council of the National Business Initiative (NBI), on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce for Southern Africa and a member of the 30% Club of Southern Africa. She represents Africa on the BCW Europe and Africa Leadership Team and is on the Global Advisory Board for BCW’s Advantage Women Initiative. She is also on the WPP South Africa Leadership Council, where she heads WPP’s Diversity and Inclusion initiative, which includes Transformation and Gender Equity. She is the Champion of the WPP Stella Initiative in South Africa.
Twitter Handle: RobynDeVilliers@RobynDeVilliers