Ann Bernstein

Ann Bernstein "is founding director of the Center for Development and Enterprise, an independent policy research think tank based in Johannesburg, whose publications are 'read and heard' in South Africa's cabinet. A leading proponent of the importance of economic growth in promoting democracy and sustainable development, she previously served as an executive director of the Urban Foundation, South Africa's then-premier NGO that had been instrumental in using the power and influence of business to persuade the apartheid government to reform key aspects of its approach to black urbanization. A board member of the Development Bank of Southern Africa between 1995 and 2001, she has published extensively on business, democracy, development, and policy-making in South Africa, including the books Migration and Refugee Policies (with M. Weiner, 1999), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction? (with P.L. Berger, 1998), and Policy Making in A New Democracy: South Africa's Challenges for the 21st Century. During her fellowship, Ms. Bernstein studied the role of business in society, especially in developing countries, and the impact of corporations on social, economic, and democratic processes."

"The first part of Ann’s professional career was spent working for the Urban Foundation, a privately funded NGO that was instrumental in using the power and influence of business to persuade the apartheid government to reform key aspects of its approach to black urbanization. In 1989 she was appointed an executive director of the Foundation and served in that capacity for 5 years until its closure in early 1995. "In 1991 she was a Visiting Fellow at Peter Berger’s Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, Boston University. "In 1994 she was appointed to the Development Bank Transformation Team and subsequently to the Transitional Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. From 1997 – 2001 she was a member of the Board of the Development Bank.  In 2007 she was appointed to the board of the Brenthurst Foundation, which focuses on African economic development." `


 * NED Past Fellows
 * Network Member, Cultural Change Institute