The 2021 Young CHRO of the Year says she is delighted to join an organisation that is big on driving change.
Dr Candice Hartley has been named the chief people officer for KPMG South Africa.
Candice, who makes her move from AECI where she was the group executive of human capital, says she is looking forward to being part of a global organisation. “KPMG South Africa is an organisation that drives positive, sustainable change for their clients, people, and communities in which they operate.”
Candice holds a BA Psychology and a BA (Hons) from the University of Johannesburg and an MBA from the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science.
In 2023, Candice was awarded a PhD at the University of Cape Town within the Faculty of Commerce. She explains that her doctoral research reports the perpetual practices of exclusion women in Africa experience in progressing their careers through the management ranks – a topic she is passionate about, even in the workplace.
“Over the tenure of my career I’ve been involved in various community social upliftment programmes through actively directing funding to initiatives focused on the implementation of SDG goals related to gender, labour, food security, water safety,; and education. In this research, I had respondents from South-Africa, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Lesotho, Senegal, Gabon Republic, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The research findings indicated the systemic nature of exclusion and the cost and sacrifices women have in management experience. This study expanded the understanding of societal and organisational practices that perpetuate the under-representation of women in senior management.”
Last year Candice was nominated for selection for the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, member from African States for the 54th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and as a Commissioner for the South-African Human Rights Council.
Prior to joining AECI in 2020, Candice was at British American Tobacco, starting in the role of area head of talent and organisational excellence, before taking on the role of human resources director. She was previously the human resources director at Pernod Ricard, which she joined after serving as human resources business partner for Africa at Lenovo.
She has furthermore held the role of human resources managing executive at Barloworld, human resources consultant at Standard Bank and human resources graduate at South African Breweries.
