Alison Bengtson-Mali - President

President of the Education Management Association of South Africa (EMASA). Raised in KwaZulu-Natal where she completed her high school career, she also obtained her first Bachelors` of Science degree through the University of Natal in 1988. Subsequently, she moved to Gauteng and pursued her career as a school based educator. She was appointed as Head of Department for Mathematics in 1993.

In 1992 she successfully completed her Higher Education Diploma. In 1995 she completed her Bachelor of Education Degree. In 1999 she obtained a Masters Diploma in Human Resource Management and in 2004 successfully completed her LLB.

In June 1997, she was appointed into the post of Deputy Chief Education Specialist (coordinator) for the Mathematical Literacy, Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences Learning Area. She also served as coordinator for the Foundation Phase. Her duty in these posts was the development of learning materials for both the Mathematics area and the Foundation Phase educators. She also had to train and develop educators in both fields.

Because of her strengths in leadership and management, she was identified to be seconded to the Education Training and Provisioning Unit and appointed as District Education Coordinator in 2000. As a DEC, she had to manage the human and material resources at both primary and secondary schools and a cluster allocated to her. She established mechanisms, procedures and processes to promote stakeholder participation through Representative Structures.

In June 2001, she was appointed as Chief Education Specialist for Curriculum Delivery and Support. The Directorate dealt with ensuring teacher development and that teaching and learning took place in all schools. This Directorate also housed the IDSO`s who are the managers of the schools. In 2002, the Directorate was split into two, with the Curriculum Directorate being separated from the IDSO Directorate. Alison headed the IDSO Directorate and was also responsible for Education Support Services and Learner Teacher Support Material. After acting (April 2008), in November 2008 she was appointed as the District Director for Gauteng East.

Throughout her career she firmly believes in organizational discipline and emotional intelligence. The driving force behind her is passion for education hence continuously striving to improve the Education System.

In May 2010 she was appointed as Chief Director: Districts Operations Management in the Gauteng Department of Education. Her responsibilities include:

- Coordinate the implementation activities of District offices.

- Co-ordinate the collection of information and statistics of schools and learners.

- Oversee expenditure programmes of District offices to ensure expenditure remain within budget allocations.

- Oversee that staffing levels at District offices are adequate to ensure efficient and effective support to institutions.

- Provide inputs on development of departmental policies and strategies and their implementation and monitoring.

- The managing and monitoring of District Performance.

- Promote the mainstreaming of Inclusive Education.