Shameela Soobramoney

SERAS Africa CSR/Sustainability Professional of the Year, 2021

ESG Sustainability Professional of the year, 2020 (IRMSA)

Shameela is the Chief Sustainability Officer of the JSE. She joined the JSE in 2007. Passionate about the systemic importance of sustainability thinking in corporate strategy, she is responsible for advising the Executive Committee and Board of the JSE Limited on sustainability and the integration into strategy. She is the past chair of the World Federation of Exchange’s (global) Sustainability Working Group, a member of the Strategy Group of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD), and chair of the Sustainable Finance Working Group of National Treasury.

Her responsibilities for Sustainability at the JSE include products, services, strategy and board reporting. She represents the JSE on various industry advisory panels[1] related to sustainability, responsible investing and climate change internationally. As a sustainability specialist she has, inter alia, been a key contributor to the JSE’s work into climate change, the potential for a local market to trade in carbon credits and environment-related products, the development of a Green, Social and Sustainability bonds framework, impact investing, the JSE’s sustainability, innovation and CSI strategies as well as the annual sustainability investor briefing/showcase sessions. She project-led the JSE’s Sustainability and Climate Change Disclosure Guidance which won the 2022 award for Thought Leadership in Sustainable Investing: Africa from Environmental Finance.

She is a non-executive director of the WWF (South Africa), and of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

She is the winner of the SERAS Africa CSR/Sustainability Professional 2021 and the IRMSA[2] ESG Sustainability Professional 2020 awards. Her previous experience includes senior roles in the banking and insurance industries, and she was the JSE’s senior manager of strategy prior to assuming responsibility for the Sustainability portfolio. She is a popular speaker at local and global events and a regular contributor to media articles.

Shameela completed a Master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership (MSt) at the University of Cambridge and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Pretoria, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). She is a recipient of the Chevening and Mansion House scholarships and is a member of the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa (IoDSA). She holds the ESG Global Competent Boards designation (GCB.D).

[1] Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) of SA Working group, CRISA, Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative member group, ASEA Sustainability working Group etc.

[2] Institute of Risk Management of Southern Africa