Biography

Kira graduated with an Honours Commerce degree from Queens University in Canada. She spent two years in brand management at Procter & Gamble in Toronto. Her career shifted from marketing to IT when she decided to follow her heart and move to Cape Town to marry the South African she'd met backpacking through Europe after graduation. Having been raised in a home full of computers (her father worked for IBM) and having run the Commerce faculty computer lab while studying at university, she had some experience to offer.

She has enjoyed an exciting career at the University of Cape Town's IT department for 25 years, the last 17 of which have been at senior management level.

As the Director of the Customer Services division, she leads a team of over 100 staff who deliver a wide range of services, including the IT helpdesk and workshop, training and communication, student computer labs, the university switchboard and classroom support services.

She developed the university's first service level agreement and was hired by the national Department of Education to train the other SA universities to do the same. She has just completed two strategic projects directly enhancing teaching and learning at the University of Cape Town: a R100 million 5-year project to renew 100 of the university's classroom, and an initiative that provides laptops to undergraduate students on financial aid. 

She contributes more broadly to the university by serving on various IT committees, the Teaching & Learning Committee of Senate and its Classroom Facilities Advisory sub-committee,  as a management member on the Consultative Forum with the employees union, and for six years, as a trustee for the retirement fund.

She is a faculty member at leadership institutes based on those offered by Educause in the U.S. and Australia: the ASAUDIT Leadership Institute in South Africa and the JUCC one in Hong Kong.  

Having a keen interest in staff development, she is also certified as a life coach.