Raenette Gottardo

Raenette Gottardo is a consultant based in South Africa with expertise in public policy, politics, and defense and foreign policy. She was formerly the Director of The Helen Suzman Foundation and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town. In 1999, at the age of 25, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the South African parliament. As a former Democratic Alliance MP, she was the Shadow Minister of Finance and a member of the Portfolio Committee on Finance. She also served on numerous other parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Public Accounts during the arms deal investigation. From 2011-2015, Raenette served as a member of the Electoral Commission of the Republic of South Africa, a constitutional office bearer position, and was responsible for overseeing the country's 5th democratic elections in its 20th year as a democracy.

Raenette is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Fellow of the Emerging Leaders Program of the Centre for Leadership and Public Values and an ALI Aspen Institute Fellow. She serves on the board of LoveLife, South Africa's largest HIV/AIDS NGO, on the Board of Stias at Stellenbosch University and is a member of the Regional Agenda Council on Africa of the World Economic Forum. She earned her PhD in Political Science at Stellenbosch University.