Gwen began her career in the nursing profession, before moving into commerce and industry, where she has spent the rest of her professional career, barring the 1980's, which she devoted to raising her three daughters.

Gwen's commercial career began in the banking industry, where she was one of the first females in South Africa to reach the ranks of management. She was exposed to the full range of activities associated with this sector, but excelled in the field of administration and internal control, where her attention to detail was commended.

After raising her family, Gwen entered the private education arena on a part-time basis, as the Secretary and Accountant of a private school.

In the mid-1990's, Gwen became involved in the arrangements leading to the launch of Veld Cooper and Associates (Pty)Ltd. (VCA), where she was appointed as the Manager: Operations, a post she has held on a full-time basis until her appointment as Manager: Services and Operations. Gwen was recently appointed CEO.

At VCA, Gwen initially had responsibility for contracts administration and financial management, where she grew to understand the business and interact with its growing client base. Gwen next headed up the publications team and was responsible for piloting the national launch of VCA's career guidance literature, gaining an in-depth insight into universities, technikons, colleges and private providers. This stood her in good stead for a subsequent assignment. At the same time, she grew and managed a national PDI bursary programme, outsourced to VCA.

As the business moved into the educational and legal consulting field, Gwen stayed abreast of all developments and took particular interest in the SAQA and SDA legislation as it unfolded.

During the past few years, Gwen has developed her insight and skills in the field of quality management to the point where she served as a member of the former SERTEC, earning the praise and respect of this committee. She also took over the management of a project involving the screening of applicants to a national tertiary educational institution.

As VCA grew, Gwen was instrumental in setting up a national network to manage monthly client visits, lectures and presentations by VCA. In the process, she has established lasting professional relationships with senior academics and captains of commerce and industry, which are invaluable to the company.

Given Gwen's years of hands-on experience with every aspect of VCA's operations, client network and the legal environment in which the company functions, she has been able to manage all administrative functions relating to the various Skills Development Projects VCA have been involved in with the various SETAs. Gwen also manages the VCA Intranet that has been developed to regulate and report on all projects VCA is required to undertake. She is thoroughly familiar with the SDF process and has capacity built many companies in completing the various documents required to reclaim their levies.