Prof Alan Widgerow

(KDHSVP 1973)

Professor Widgerow is a professor of plastic surgery. He was the top surgical graduate of the University of Witwatersrand in 1989 and he has held various positions in numerous academic and professional associations including that of President of the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery of Southern Africa (APRSSA).He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and was appointed Emeritus Professor by the Senate of Wits University in 1999. He is author of over 90 plastic surgical related publications and 2 books, and is currently editor-in-chief of Wound Healing Southern Africa. He is also the founder and medical director of 10 wound clinics in South Africa. His current fields of interest are medical device innovations and wound healing.

Andy Bolnick

(KDHSL  1984)

Andy Bolnick completed a degree in Political Science and Sociology from Wits University. She worked with social movements from the early 90’s and joined the Shack Dwellers International (SDI) Network in 1997 supporting saving schemes and micro-finance groups in informal settlements across South Africa. As a result of her exposure to the pressing needs of the poor she pioneered work on informal settlement upgrading long before Government recognized its importance viewing informality as part of the solution. In 2006 Andy set up her own initiative, Ikhayalami (‘My Home’) providing innovative shelter and infrastructural solutions to poor communities in informal settlements in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban pioneering this with working with communities to reconfigure settlement wide layouts. This initiative has influenced how the state, poor communities and other NGO’s implement informal settlement upgrading. Andy has worked with shack dweller communities in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil and India.In 2011 she was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship (a global organisation that identifies leading social entrepreneurs - individuals with innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social problems) in recognition of the contribution she has made. She is a finalist in the Financial Times - Citi Ingenuity Award.

Dr Anthony Samir

(KDHSL 1990)

Dr Samir is an Associate Medical Director of Ultrasound at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston USA. He is also an instructor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. His research, teaching and clinical work has focused on interventional device development, diagnostic ultrasound, abdominal imaging, and non-vascular interventional radiology. In 2003, he was awarded the Far Eastern Economic Review's Young Inventor of the Year Award for the invention of a laser guidance system for interventional radiology procedures in CT scans. In 2004, he was awarded the Siemens Australia Research Prize for the invention of a laser-guidance system for interventional radiology procedures in ultrasound. This invention also won the ABC Television New Inventors Prize in 2006. Dr Samir is currently involved in numerous radiology research projects.

Bendeta Gordon

(KDHSL 1982)

Bendeta is a chartered accountant and  an early pioneer of franchise consulting in South Africa. She set up the franchise division at Kessel Feinstein Consulting, heading it as a Director for 4 years.  She was awarded the Franchise Personality of the Year by The Franchise Association in 1996.  Bendeta achieved one of her goals by opening her own franchise development consultancy and training provider, at the age of 29. In 1998 the business was incorporated as Franchize Directions and is currently the forerunner in facilitating the expansion of businesses utilising franchising and other owner-operator structur. Franchize Directions has been instrumental in the establishment of many leading franchisors. She is actively involved in community work. She manages a text book funding programme and has been the chairperson of King David Linksfield High School PTA.  

Bryan Schimmel

(KDHSL 1982)

Bryan Schimmel has positioned himself as one of the leading and most diverse Music Directors, Arrangers and Orchestrators in South Africa. He has worked in theatre, special events, recording and television across a full spectrum of music from rock bands to Big Bands, string quartets to symphony orchestras. His dazzling roster of theatrical productions includes DREAMGIRLS, CHICAGO, WE WILL ROCK YOU, RENT and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE.  Together with Ian von Memerty, Bryan co-created the massively successful, multi award winning A HANDFUL OF KEYS and played the first 350 performances. Other creative projects include the inaugural production of the Shanghai Culture Centre in China, M-Net’s 25th Birthday, creating symphonic orchestrations to accompany Johnny Clegg and Mango Groove, arranging and producing Harry Sideropoulos’ Big Band album MY FAVOURITE SWINGS, the 60th Annual FIFA CONGRESS, five BIDVEST CEO Awards, three VODACOM CEO Awards, four MISS SOUTH AFRICA pageants, two MISS WORLD pageants, Nelson Mandela’s 85th Birthday, and performing before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Bryan’s talents have taken him all over the world.  Bryan is a six time Naledi Theatre Award nominee. He is the recipient of a Vita Theatre award for A HANDFUL OF KEYS, and two Naledi Theatre Awards for Music Direction of CHICAGO and Musical Arrangements of KNIGHTS OF MUSIC. He was also honoured with the King David Schools Foundations’ David Award for Considerable Contribution to Performing Arts.

Dr Carmel Goodman

(KDHSL  1973)

Dr Carmel Goodman matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1973. Sheobtained  Springbok colours for swimming at the  age of 13yrs,and captained and represented South Africa during her high school career at King David. She won two Gold Medals at Maccabi Games in Israel during her matric year. Carmel owes a huge debt of gratitude to the dedication of the teachers at King David for ensuring her academic standards did not suffer as a result of her dedication to swimming. The school even created the first “golden Honours” blazer in recognition of her achievements! She went on to study Medicine at Wits University and then specialise as a Sports Physician in Australia. Today she is the Medical Director at the West Australian Institute of Sport a post she has held since 1990. She is responsible for coordinating the care of National and Olympic athletes based in Western Australia. She is also involved in lecturing and postgraduate research supervision in the area of Sports Medicine  at The University of Western Australia and have co-authored numerous papers in this area. She has attended the Olympic and Commonwealth Games as the Team Doctor since 2000. She was recently awarded the Sports Medicine Australia medal for outstanding contribution to a team in the field of sports medicine.

Dr Clive Evian

(KDHSL  1969)

Dr Clive Evian matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1969 and went on to study medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. He later specialized in Community Health in 1991, and is a registered specialist in this field. Clive was one of the first doctors to begin addressing the epidemic in South Africa. Since then he has worked almost entirely with HIV/AIDS in South Africa and beyond, and was part of the steering team that developed the fist Strategic HIV/AIDS Plan for the new South African government in 1994. His work has involved has involved all aspects of the disease from awareness to treatment .He is widely published. His book entitled PRIMARY HIV/AIDS Clinical Care targeting developing countries which has been widely distributed. Close to 100000 copies have been sold and it is now in its 5^th edition. He has authored various other books and scientific publications. His work has taken him into over 16 countries in Africa. He was elected as an Associated of the College of Medicine in Public Health Medicine in 1992 and was featured in the Who’s Who of South Africa in 2009. Currently he is working part-time for Right to Care in the field of Mother to Child HIV transmission. Clive is also an acclaimed photographer.

Dr Colin Goldschmidt

(KDHSL 1971)

Colin Goldschmidt is the CEO of Sonic Healthcare, an international pathology company employing over 25,000 people. He studied medicine at Wits and then migrated to Sydney, where he qualified as a pathologist, before taking on his management role in 1993. Since then, he has led the dramatic expansion of Sonic Healthcare from a single Sydney-based laboratory with turnover of $20 million to that of a global pathology operation of $3.3 billion in annual revenues and capitalised on the Australian stock exchange at over $5 billion. Sonic is the largest pathology company in Australia, Germany and Europe and the number three player in the USA. Colin has committed the company to a philosophy of “Medical Leadership”, quality and integrity in its professional and corporate dealings. Sonic’s principal charitable activities are through direct financial contributions and on-the-ground technical support by Sonic staff to two acute care hospitals, one in Ethiopia and the other in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sir Daniel Bethlehem

(KDHSL 1977)

Sir Daniel Bethlehem is the first former Davidian to be knighted. He is the current Legal Adviser of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and was awarded the Knighthood of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in the Queens’ Birthday Honours 2010. In 2003 he became the Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law in Cambridge and was appointed Queen’s Counsel the following year. Sir Daniel Bethlehem holds degrees from the University of Witwatersrand and Cambridge.

Danny K

(KDHSL 1995)

Danny K is one of South Africa’s foremost musicians and performers. After school, Danny went onto graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand as well as Wits Business School and received 2 degrees in Law and Business Administration. Danny’s passion for music and performing propelled him into a career of show-business. Danny is also a sought after writer and producer, having written and produced songs for some of South Africa’s biggest artists. Over the years, he has won numerous music awards including multiple SAMA (South African Music Awards) Awards. He has a string of number one, top ten singles and Gold albums under his belt and has performed for some incredible people including Nelson Mandela and Opera Winfrey. Charity and Social work are very important to Danny, and together with fellow musician, Kabelo Mabane, he founded the SHOUT Foundation. The song SHOUT was recorded to initiate the SHOUT crime campaign and was the biggest selling full track download of the year 2011. When asked about his school days at King David, Danny says “Mr Gary Block was always very encouraging and motivated me to audition for all the plays and school productions. My fondest memory has to be playing Danny Zuko in Grease. It was to be my last role on a KD stage and one I’ll never forget.”

David Medalie

(KDHSL  1980)

David Medalie matriculated from King David High School, Linksfield in 1980. He is a South African writer and academic. He holds degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University. He taught at Wits for a number of years and is currently a professor in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria. David is also a novelist, short story writer and anthologist. His first collection of short stories, The Shooting of the Christmas Cows, was published in 1990 by David Philip and won the Ernst van Heerden Award prior to its publication.  In 2006 his debut novel, The Shadow Follows was short-listed for the Commonwealth Literary Award in the Best First Book category (Africa region) and the M-Net Literary Award.  A second collection of his short stories, The Mistress’s Dog, was published in 2010. Amongst the twelve short stories included in the collection are two award-winning stories: ‘Recognition’, which won the Sanlam Literary Award in 1996 and ‘The Mistress’s Dog’, which won the Thomas Pringle Award for short stories in 2008. The collection was short-listed for the University of Johannesburg Literary award in 2011 and the title story was short-listed in same year for the Caine Prize for African writing.

Doron Grosman

(KDHSVP 1975)

Doron Grosman is a partner at Court Square Capital, a New York based private equity firm. Previously he served as President, Hexcel Corp and President, Quebecor Magazine Printing Solutions both New York Stock Exchange companies. Doron successfully turned around both businesses. After graduating with a Master of Science in Engineering from Wits and a MBA from Harvard Business School, Doron started his career at the management consulting firm Bain & Company and then spent eleven years in various senior executive roles in the plastics division of General Electric, culminating in leading the Americas Engineering Plastics business. Before joining Quebecor he was Chief Operating Officer of the Trane Commercial Air Conditioning business. Doron was head boy at Victory Park in 1975, co-chaired the committee that organized the first two North American King David alumni reunions and remains actively engaged in supporting the Dor le Dor campaign in the greater New York metropolitan area.

Elan Lea

(KDHSVP 2000)

Elan Lea matriculated from King David Victory Park in 2000. His musical journey began as a teenager when he stumbled across his grandparents’ piano and found instant kinship. is first song, “Hold Me In Your Arms,” began gleaning airplay at top 40 radio in his Johannesburg hometown, ultimately proliferating across South Africa to become a national hit. Over the past decade Elan has certainly experienced his share of ups and downs in the fickle music industry. For his upcoming 2012 album, “Conversations Over Time,” Elan is the primary composer. The one grand exception being a collaboration on a track with legendary Bee Gee Robin Gibb. “I stayed in his home with his family, and he taught me more than a thing or two about writing. Robin is my music mentor” Elan says. “There aren’t too many people out there who have the privilege of singing and writing a duet with a Bee Gee. It’s an honor I will cherish forever”

Ernest Mazansky

(KDHSVP 1969)

Ernest Mazansky matriculated from King David Victory Park in 1969. He then went on to achieve a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Wits), Bachelor of Accounting (Wits) Higher Diploma in Income Tax Law (Wits) Chartered Accountant (SA). Ernest was appointed National Chairman and Grant Thornton International Practice Partner in 1997. He is acknowledged as a leading authority on both local and international corporate and individual tax issues. He is highly regarded for his expertise in VAT and exchange control matters. In 2002 Ernest was invited by Werksmans Attorneys to head up their newly formed tax consultancy, a position he now holds. Ernest is a past chairman of the Taxation Committee of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and is also a member of the Institute’s Exchange Control Committee. He is the author of many articles on tax-related issues, in both South African and international publications, is a guest speaker at a variety of forums, and is frequently quoted in the media on professional topics.

Gary Barber

(KDHSL 1974)

Gary Barber is the Co-Chairman and CEO of the legendary and iconic film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM). Prior to his appointment at MGM, Gary founded Spyglass Entertainment, a film production, finance, and distribution company with films grossing over $5 billion in worldwide box-office and over 34 Oscar® nominations. Gary has produced or executive produced over 60 feature films. Notable hits include The Sixth Sense, Bruce Almighty, Seabiscuit, Memoirs of a Geisha, Star Trek, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Wanted, and Invictus.

Gina Shmukler

(KDHSL 1988)

Acclaimed actress, Gina Shmukler, matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1987. Her theatre accolades and abilities extend beyond the confines of the stage. She is an actress, producer and director, with stage successes throughout the world. Gina’s believes that King David provided students with the opportunity to talk and debate freely about issues in the country during the heart of apartheid giving her and her classmates the confidence to succeed once they left the safety of the school environment. Some of Gina numerous roles include, Donna in Mamma Mia for which she earned both a Fleur Du Cap and Naledi nomination. She played the role of Mary Magdalene on the World Tour of Paul Warrick Griffin’s Jesus Christ Superstar performing in South Korea and Athens, Greece. In New York, Gina most recently played the role of Amina in the Award winning independent film, Arranged. In SA Gina has played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and Florence Vassy in Chess for which she won a Naledi Award and a Fleur Du Cap nomination. She also directed and co-wrote Brer Rabbit for the Market Theatre.

Hersch Klaff

(KDHSL 1970)

Hersch Klaff is the owner of Klaff Realty, LP, a real estate investment company based in Chicago USA. This company has established a leadership position in the acquisition of retail space, with some of its major transactions including Kmart, Hechingers, Lechmere, Marsh Supermarkets,and Albertson’s. Hersch is a contributor and supporter of many charities, including amongst others the Jewish Community Federation, Jewish National Fund, American Jewish Committee, and the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind. He is also the founder of the Klaff Family Foundation.Hersch holds a BCom from the University of Witwatersrand and completed his articles in the USA.

Professor Jeffrey E. Max, M.D.

(KDHSL 1976)

Professor Jeffrey Max matriculated from King David High School, Linksfield in 1976 where he was Vice Head Boy. He then went onto study Medicine at Wits Medical School. He furthered his training in General Psychiatry as well as Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Brown University in the USA. He began his research career at the University of Iowa where he established himself as a nationally recognised investigator in the area of psychiatric outcome of traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents. He currently works at the University of California, San Diego where he is recognized internationally for his research in pediatric traumatic brain injury and pediatric stroke.

Prof Jeffrey Koseff

(KDHSL 1971)

Prof Koseff is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He served as Department Chair for 4 years and lateras the Senior Associate Dean for Engineering. As one of the leaders in developing the vision for the interdisciplinary work on environmental issues at Stanford he co-founded the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford, and has served since 2004 as the inaugural Perry L. McCary Director. He is the recipient of the Knapp Award in Fluids Engineering from the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, an outstanding service award from the American Society of Civil Engineering, and a number of teaching awards at Stanford. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Israel Institute of Technology, and a number of visiting committees including the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research and the WHO-MIT Joint Programme. He is a former member of the Independent Science Board of the Bay/Delta Authority.

Joanne Fedler

(KDVP 1985)

After leaving King David, Joanne Fedler got her LLM from Yale and set up a legal advocacy centre to end violence against women. After immigrating to Australia in 2001, she began writing and is now the author of six books, including The Dreamcloth (Jacana Media, 2005), Things Without A Name (Allen & Unwin, 2008), When Hungry, Eat (Allen & Unwin, 2010), The Reunion, (2012), the international bestseller Secret Mothers’ Business (Allen & Unwin, 2006) and most recently, It Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard: the secrets to finding and keeping intimacy (Random House, 2012) co-authored with her friend Graeme Friedman. She is also a motivational speaker and creative writing facilitator. Together with Women’s Own Adventure, she takes women on writing adventures in exotic destinations like Tuscany and Bali. www.joannefedler.com

Picture courtesy of Richard Weinstein

Jonathan Kaplan

(KDHSL 1984)

Jonathan Kaplan is the most capped international test rugby referee of all time (63 caps). He holds the South African record for refereeing a total of 9 matches across 3 Rugby World Cups. He also holds the record for refereeing 363 first class matches and the South African record for 78 Super 15 Caps. He was named South African referee of the year from 2003 – 2007, and again in 2009. Jonathan holds a BSoc.Sci and a post-graduate diploma in Marketing Management from the University of Cape Town and UNISA.

Jonathan Klein

(KDHSL 1977)

Jonathan Klein is the co-founder of Getty Images. In 2002 he won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Washington, in 2005 was named number one on American Photo's 2005 list of the 100 "Most Important People in Photography", and in 2006, was named one of the "Fast 50 - The people who will change the way we live and work over the next 10 years" by Fast Company. Currently, Jonathan serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Board of Directors of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Board of Trustees of Groton School. He also serves on the boards of Directors of Getty Images, RealNetworks, Daylife, Life.com and Getty Investments.

Professor Jonathan Lewis

(KDHSVP 1975)

Dr. Jonathan Lewis is Chief Executive Officer, Chief Medical Officer, and executive Chairman of Ziopharm Oncology, a cancer biotech in New York, Boston, Germantown, and San Diego progressing several programs and developing new treatments for people with cancer. Prior to this he served as Professor of both Surgery and Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell Medical School. He was co-chief resident in surgery with the late Margret Oddsdottir at Yale. He has been actively involved in leading translational and clinical research in cancer globally and has helped develop several new treatments in cancer. He has received and successfully raised more than a half a Billion Dollars in Cancer Research and Development Funding. He has received numerous honors and awards in medicine and science, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Kristen Carr Fellowship, the Yale University Ohse Award, the Royal College of Surgeons Trubshaw Medal, the AACR Molecular Mechanism Fellowship, and the Sarcoma Foundation of America Hope and Vision Award. He served as Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Medical Board at Antigenics. He has served as a Director on several private and public companies and currently serves as a Director on the Board of POPPA (the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance) of the New York Police Department (NYPD) on the Medical Advisory Board of the Sarcoma Foundation of America, on the Board of the Combat Wound Iniative Program at Walter Reed and as Chairman of the Board of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research.

Prof Kenneth Polonsky

(KDHSL 1967)

Prof Polonsky is the Dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Institute of the Medicine and has won multiple awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the American Federation of Clinical Research, the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award of the American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health Merit Award. He served as Chairman of Internal Medicine at Washington University and was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2009.

Lance Metz

(KDHSVP 2000)

Lance Metz matriculated as Head Boy of King David Victory Park in 2000. He is officially the youngest South African to summit Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia and Mount Vinson in Antarctica. On 24 May 2010 Lance Metz became the youngest South African to summit the North Ridge of Mount Everest. Lance is one of only two South Africans to have ever climbed over 8000m (26,246 ft.) without the use of supplemental oxygen. Metz's mountaineering experience includes: Kilimanjaro – 4 summits, Everest – 1 summit, Cho Oyu - 1 Summit, Elbrus – 1 summit, Carstenz Pyramid,  Puncak Jaya – 1 summit, Vinson Massif – 1 summit and Aconcagua - 1 Summit. He has still to climb Mount Denali to complete the Seven Summits and upon completion would become the youngest African to stand on the highest point on every continent.On the 7 May 2012 Lance Metz attempted to reach the summit of Mt Cho Oyu without the use of supplemental oxygen . He got up to 8100m with 100 vertical meters to go before he had to use oxygen due to hypothermia and frostbite. He completed the summit attempt.Lance is using his experiences through motivational speaking to encourage both young and old to never give up on their dreams.Lance has been carrying up the "SHOUT" flag to the highest points of each continent, "shouting for a safer South Africa". SHOUT is a trust founded by Danny K and Kabelo Mabalane to help give South Africans a voice in the fight against crime in South Africa.

Larry Shore

(KDHSL 1968)

Larry Shore (KDHSL 1968) is the producer and co-director of the documentary film "RFK in the Land of Apartheid: A Ripple of Hope" - about Senator Robert Kennedy's historic 1966 visit to South Africa. (rfksafilm.org). The film has been screened on the SABC, PBS in the US and the Africa Channel. It opened the Encounters Film Festival in Cape Town. It has also been shown at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston and numerous other organizations and universities in the US and South Africa. After King David Larry did a BA at Wits majoring in Political Science. While at Wits he was active in NUSAS and the Wilgerspruit Fellowship Center. He left South Africa for the United States in 1973. He graduated with an MA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a received a Phd In Communications from Stanford University. Larry is a professor in the Film and Media Studies Department at Hunter College in New York. He also regularly teaches a course on South Africa. He co-ounded the South African-American Organization and was its president for 5 years. In terms of inspirations Larry says “I want to give credit to my favorite teacher at King David - Rose Cohen- who taught us to think beyond the narrow, untruthful confines of our assigned history books.”

Prof Marlene Behrmann-Cohen

(KDHSL 1976)

Prof Behrmann – Cohen is a Professor at the Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University and Center for Neural Basis of Cognition. She was a member of the Western delegation meeting with and in residence with Dalai Lama and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering at the White House and the APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience. Prof Behrmann – Cohen has published more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, edited 3 books, published 35 book chapters, and presented over 100 papers at scientific meetings.

Dr Max Price

(KDHSVP 1972)

Dr Price is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. He is medically qualified and an expert in public health, health policy and health economics. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand for ten years. During the 1980s and 1990s he held various positions in health activist organisations,and was appointed by the Minister of Health to the advisory committees on Health Financing (chair, 1994) and National Health Insurance(1995). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Colleges of Medicine of SA.

Dr Melvyn Greenberg "Dr Platzhund"

(KDHSL  1967)

Dr Melvyn Greenberg matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1967. He qualified as a veterinarian in 1973, at Onderstepoort where he received the Pfizer Clinical Prize for the Best Student in Final Year on Clinics. His hosted his own radio show on 702 and Cape Talk for 17 under the pseudonym “Dr Platzhund” and thus became famous among pet-lovers around South Africa. He is the pioneer of Animal Behaviour in the veterinary profession in South Africa and  was the first veterinarian to introduce puppy socialisation classes to veterinary practices and to the public at large. His awards and accolades are numerous. Melvyn is a well known public figure and has appeared on TV and radio often.

Neville Dove

(KDHSL 1968)

Neville Dove is an international solo pianist, chamber musician and conductor of opera and symphonic repertoire. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York as well as with Guido Agosti in Rome. He has conducted the opera companies of Stockholm, Boston and various companies in Germany. He was also Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Ernest Bloch Music Festival in Newport USA, and Music Director and Conductor of the prize-winning television film of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle for SABC-TV. He has taught at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, the University of Cape Town, the Technikon Opera School Pretoria, the UNESCO International Music-Theater in the Netherlands, the New Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. He has won the Josef Lhévinne Memorial Award in New York and the Nedeburg Opera Award in South Africa.

Rabbi Dr Akiva Tatz

(KDHSVP 1970)

Rabbi Dr Tatz is a Rabbi, medical doctor, author and renowned international speaker. He studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand and graduated with distinction in surgery. He subsequently moved to Israel where he practised as a doctor as well as engaged in Yeshiva study. He is the founder of the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum. He has written and published 6 books on topics ranging from religion, self-help to Jewish medical ethics and these have been translated into Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and German. He has also published 21 sets of audio recordings of lectures in Jewish philosophy, law and medical ethics which have been distributed via CD and internet.

Prof Robert Lawrence

(KDHSL 1966)

Prof Robert Lawrence is Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1998 to 2000. He currently serves as Faculty Chair of The Practice of Trade Policy Executive Programme at Harvard Kennedy School. He is a member of the International Advisory Panel of Asgi-SA.

Dr Shane Dorfman

(KDHSVP 1992)

Dr. Shane Dorfman matriculated from King David Victory Park in 1992. He then graduated cum laude from Wits medical school in 1998. He later graduated with an MBA cum laude from Wits Business School in 2004. Shane completed the Global Health Leadership Programme through the University of California, Berkeley and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics in 2010. Shane is also an 8-time World karate champion, former protea team captain, multiple Maccabi world champion, holds a 6th Dan (degree) black belt and sits on the KWF international master panel. Shane lectures part-time lecturer at Wits Business School and consults to an array of local and multinational corporates in his specialist area of Performance Opitmisation and Leadership Fitness and Wellness. Shane has also been widely active on the business and management side of healthcare where he has held a number of senior management and executive positions. Dr. Dorfman has recently returned to clinical medicine where he is a specialist registrar in the department of clinical radiology, Wits Medical School and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

Sharon Spiegel-Wagner

(KDSHL 2001)

Sharon matriculated as Head Girl in 2001 at King David Linksfield and her memories of King David are filled with the joys of learning, leadership and inspiration. "The skills and support that King David gave me filled me with an invaluable sense of confidence and identity and I will forever be grateful to my teachers, my mentors and all those who believed in me at school. I had the time of my life." After school, Sharon went to study Dramatic Art at WITS and graduated with Honors. Sharon also completed two teaching diplomas in musical theatre and dramatic art through Trinity College London and received an 'Exhibitionist award' for excellence from the Queen of England. Her professional life began working in children’s theatre. She played a witch in Macbeth in 2006 and then played the romantic lead in Iron Love at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. She became lead vocalist in Sun City’s Let there be Rock and was later cast in Fiddler on the Roof. Sharon was then cast in the musical, Hairspray. She recently played two principle roles in musicals: Jenny Dillingham in the musical Aspects of Love and Frenchy in the musical Grease which toured to Hong Kong and New Zealand.. Sharon starred recently in Love, Loss and What I Wore and performed in a short adaptation of the musical Godspell. She also recently played a cameo role in the film Inescapable starring Oscar winning actors. Sharon is about to perform her own work in a collaborative piece about being Jewish in South Africa; and the migration of Jews around the world. 

Shaun Rubenstein

(KDHSL 2001)

Shaun Rubenstein is an Olympic canoeist, who represented South Africa at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. He is currently preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games. Shaun holds a BCom degree in Sports Management through the University of Johannesburg and is studying towards an MBL (Master of Business Leadership) through the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership.

Steve Collis

(KDHSL 1978)

Steve Collis matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1978. After school he trained as a chartered accountant and worked for a few years at the  Johannesburg Stock Exchange He emigrated to the US in 1988 and at first ran a private health care business in Southern California. In 1994 he helped found what is today AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group – the leading distributor and Services provider to biopharmaceutical manufacturer’s in the United States . In July 2011, after a 17 year  career within AmerisourceBergen Corporation  Steve  was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen, a eighty billion dollar NYSE quoted company  that today delivers a fifth of all the pharmaceuticals dispensed in the USA.

Talia Kodesh

(KDHSL 1997)

Talia Kodesh matriculated from King David High School Linksfield in 1997 and then went on to study Musical Theatre at the Tshwane University of Technology. Like many other successful Alumni Tali believes that KD gave her the foundation to enable her to succeed. In Tali's words "King David focuses on every aspect of development, from academics to the arts to leadership and nothing is overlooked. I learned that success comes from hard work and putting in the hours!" Talia has been starring in musicals since 2002, some of her stage accolades include: Charlotte in Charlotte's Web, which won a Naledi Award, Louisa von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Jemima in a touring production of Cats, Ozzie Osborn and Scaramouche in We Will Rock You, which also toured New Zealand. Mimi Marquez in Rent, Liz and Roxie in Chicago, Belle in Beauty and The Beast for which she was nominated for a Naledi for Best Actress in a Musical, and Gabriella Montez in a Touring Production of Disney's High School Musical.

Vicky Friedman

(KDHSL 1995)

Vicky matriculated from King David Linksfield in 1995. When asked about her time at school, Vicky raves about the opportunities available at King David. “School productions were an integral part of my training for a professional career.” Vicky went on to study Musical Theatre at Pretoria Technikon and graduated with a National Diploma. She obtained her Honours Degree in Communications through Unisa whilst performing in numerous professional stage productions including Cinders and her Fella and Sleeping Beauty for Janice Honeyman, The Best of Girl Talk for Richard Loring, Annie and the international production of Boogie Nights. Vicky played one of the six merry murderesses and understudied Velma Kelly in Hazel Feldman’s hit production of Chicago. Vicky has appeared in Egoli, Pieter Toerien’s Stepping Out and understudied Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Johannesburg Civic Theatre. Vicky was nominated for a best supporting actress Naledi award for her performance of Penny Pingelton in Hairspray. Vicky has choreographed for Isidingo in Concert, Ladies Night, the F.N.B Vita nominated Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2000), Menopause - the Musical, Mile High with Cathy Specific, The Rocky Horror Show and Beautiful Creatures which won the 2010 Naledi Award for Best Children’s Musical. She also directed and choreographed The Black Diamonds and recently produced and directed the brand new musical Streets of Gold for AngloGold Ashanti. Vicky runs Fame Academy workshops training children in the performing arts. Vicky is a voice over artist for television and radio and producer of theatre and corporate events through her company Showiz.

Prof Wayne Derman

(KDHSL 1980)

Prof Derman is Professor of Sports Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town Sport Science Institute of South Africa and is co-Director of the Sports Medicine Services and Research Group. He was the Chief Medical Officer for the South African Team to various Olympic and Paralympic Games. In December to May 2002, he served as flight surgeon to Cosmonaught Mark Shuttleworth during the “First African in Space” mission in Russia, and was the Medical Officer for Cape Town during the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Yair Miller

(KDHSL 1994)

Yair Miller (KDHSL 1994) lives in Sydney, Australia. In 2011 Yair was listed in the Sydney Morning Herald as one of state of New South Wales’ 50 most influential people. He was also listed in the Australian Jewish News as one of the 50 most influential members of the Jewish Community in Australia. Yair works professionally as a consultant in Disaster and Emergency Management. He is President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and a Vice President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. He sits on the Executive of the JCA (Jewish Communal Appeal), on the Board of Management of Kehillat Masada Synagogue and is the President of the Council for Jewish Communal Security (NSW). Yair also serves on the Board of Trustees for the New York based Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and as a member of the Board of Governors of the Jerusalem based International School of Jewish Leadership. In July 2012 Yair was appointed by the NSW State Government as a community Board member of the NSW Parole Authority and he serves on the Ministerial Consultative Committee to the Minister for Citizenship and Communities.