Siya Madyibi is the Executive Director responsible for Microsoft’s Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) in South Africa. His work today is focused on supporting Microsoft’s sales and business operations in SA and helping customers both public and private sector to navigate novel regulatory and policy issues that have surfaced as a result of the transition from traditional, on-premise software solutions to hyperscale cloud and digital transformation services including issues that relate to the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Siya has over 20 years’ experience in telecommunications regulations and business development in the ICT sector. His career has taken him through iconic brands like ICASA, MTN, Internet Solutions and Cisco where he served in various capacities. In September 2016 he joined Microsoft as one of its Executive Directors a position that gave him a diverse and broad portfolio which saw him lead critical business functions like Legal, Corporate Affairs, country transformation and localization including Microsoft Philanthropies and local investments. Throughout his experience, Siya has developed insights into sales programs and commercial agreements for traditional software and cloud services. He is keenly aware of how compliance and data privacy issues have changed and continue to evolve at a global level.

Siya is a frequent speaker on AI, the role of trust and compliance in cloud services and has also penned various articles on cloud computing and on technology as an enabler of country and societal digitization. He is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and the University of Natal Law School. In November 2011 he was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of SA.