Olrac - Members


	OLRAC presently consists of the following 15 skilled people:
	Dr Amos Barkai, Partner/Owner: Amos graduated in 1981 with a B.Sc. from Haifa and Tel Aviv Universities. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biology at UCT in 1987, focusing on predator-prey interactions in rock lobster populations. His Ph.D. work was published in Science, has been aired by the BBC, and is a regular feature in undergraduate biology texts. Together with Dr Mike Bergh, he has consulted extensively to major fishing and diamond mining groups in South Africa, focusing in particular on analytical work with complex datasets and the development of specialized commercial database solutions. Amos has extensive project management skills and experience.
	Dr Mike Bergh, Partner/Owner: Mike graduated with a B.Sc. Chem. Eng. (First Class Hons.) at UCT in 1979. In 1986, he obtained his Ph.D. at UCT (University of Cape Town), in Applied Mathematics. He conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California in Berkeley (1987) and the School of Fisheries, University of Washington (1988,1989), and published on demographic models and statistical experimental design. Mike lectured an M.Sc. course in quantitative techniques applied to living renewable resource management at UCT before initiating the OLRAC consulting business with Amos. Mike has experience and expertise in a number of branches of multivariate statistics and data mining.
	Ms Albie Jacobs, Mathematical Modeler, Albie graduated with a B.Sc. (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry) Cum Laude and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Pretoria. She also obtained a M.Sc. in Mathematical Technology from the University of Southern Mississippi, USA. Albie is responsible for a range of mathematical modelling activities. Her research focus is in the area of size structured rock lobster stock assessments, spatially disaggregated abalone assessments, and age structured stock assessments techniques applied to rock lobster and finfish stocks. She is also involved in the development of management procedures for a range of stocks including the Namibian pilchard resource. She also teaches fisheries mathematics on courses offered by Olrac.
	Mr James Gaylard, Fisheries Mathematician, James graduated with a B.Sc. (Mathematics and Applied Mathematics), cum laude from UNISA and was the winner of the Science faculty medal. James has been professionally involved in mathematics and mathematics education since 1996, and in fisheries mathematics since January 2003. James’s research focus is in the development of moult probability models for the analysis of rock lobster tag recapture data; the development of software to deal with non-linear mixed models; age structured stock assessments of hake and rock-lobster stocks in South Africa and development of depth and size based algorithms for splitting hake catches into component species by analysis of survey and commercial data. He has been involved in the development of Olfish software, particularly in GAM-GLM software for prediction of commercial CPUE and in software which optimises scheduling of fishing fleets. He has been a regular contributor to the Demersal and West Coast rock lobster scientific working groups at Marine and Coastal Management and has authored several working-group documents. He also teaches fisheries mathematics on courses offered by Olrac.
	Mrs Revi Barkai Fisheries Scientist, Revi graduated from the University of Tel Aviv in 1981 with a BSc in Biology. She moved to Cape Town in 1982 and obtained her M.Sc in Marine Biology in 1987 at UCT. Revi’s main field of research was in the Energy budget of Abalone Haliotis Midae. Thereafter, she published a several papers in various international scientific literatures while working on numerous research topics, and was subcontracted by the CSIR. She spent 5 years teaching at Reddam School and has recently joined Olrac to compliment the existing team.
	Ms Fatima Felaar, Senior Software Engineer, Ms Fatima Felaar, Software Engineer, Fatima has a B.Sc. (Computer Science) from the University of Cape Town. She has extensive development experience in Delphi, SQL Server, MS Access and XML. Prior work experience included financial software development for OLD MUTUAL. She also worked for MacManus Infotech developing intranets and functional websites using Java, Visual Basic, MS Access and SQL Server.Fatima has travelled extensively to Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Holland to consult on technical issues surrounding Olfish and to participate in workgroups relating to the SHEEL project. Currently her core focus is the development of the electronic reporting components of the Olfish software system. She is also responsible for the biological sampling component and the security implementation of Olfish.
	Mrs Zahrah Dante, OLRAC: Zahrah is responsible for development of database software products using Delphi, Access and Sequel Server. Her areas of specialization include statistical analysis, configuration of data mining systems, data warehousing, database administration and the development of database reporting tools.
	Mr Karl Geggus, Software Engineer, Karl graduated with a B.Eng (Electronic Engineering) Cum Laude from the University of Pretoria in 1992. He has many years of experience in object-orientated software design and implementation, having worked with C, C++, Delphi, SQL Server, MySQL, PHP, and a variety of scripting languages on Windows and Unix platforms. His professional interests include machine intelligence (image and voice recognition), intuitive and innovative interface design, and elegant software solutions.He is responsible for the architecture and system design of Olfish, as well as the data centre front-end and the import export functionality. He also writes and maintains the in-house code generation and database developer tools.
	Mr Daniel Glago, Software Engineer, Daniel has a B. Comm. (Information Systems) from the University of Cape Town. He is responsible for software engineering on the Olfish project focusing on Fleet Management Scheduling and Catch Prediction (which utilises previous catch and observation data) using the latest optimisation methods based on complex mathematical models. He has development experience in Delphi, HTML, TCL, Clipper and Powerbuilder on SQL Server and Oracle. He also has worked on the Vignette Content Management System. Previous work included working with websites, on digital TV’s, Palm Pilots and Cell phones.
	Mr Andre van de Merwe, Software Engineer, Andre has an MSc in Engineering Science obtained from the University of Stellenbosch in 2003, and majored in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. His thesis studied an automated patient positioning system used for proton treatment at iThemba Laboratories. During his two years employed as a Software Engineer at Olrac, developing Olfish, his duties have included the development of database reporting tools, statistical analysis tools such as graphical charts and graphs and a customisation utility with which different versions of the software can be customised for each client. He has also been involved in the technical aspects of configuring the software for use with a range of fishing methods.
	Mr Arno Hayes, Software Engineer, Arno is a Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) and has experience in developing software in Borland Delphi, XBase++ and Microsoft Visual Basic. He is mainly responsible for testing the OLFISH software suite. He also maintains most of the documentation in the development environment including meeting minutes and help documentation. In addition he writes and maintains testing utilities. During the language translation process he acts as liaison between the translators and the developers.
	Ms Andrea Ronald, Senior Office Administrator, Andrea has been with Olrac since May 2000. She is in charge of office administrative duties and serves as the bookkeeper for Olrac & SPSS-SA.
	Ms Jean Ross, Administration Support, Jean is responsible for financial matters, debt collecting, travel and accommodation arrangements, banking and account payments.
	Ms Marishe Thomas, Administration Support & Personal Assistant to Dr Amos Barkai and Dr Michael Bergh. Marishe joined us in February 2002. Marishe is responsible for office maintenance, catering, operating the switchboard and general administrative duties.

	SPSS SA Staff complement: In addition to OLRAC, Drs Barkai and Bergh own SPSS-SA (Pty) Ltd, a sister company specializing in the sale and marketing of the SPSS range of statistical products. SPSS-SA also offers training in all products sold, technical support and consulting work in a variety of statistical fields using the SPSS range of statistical products. The relevance of this information is that the entire expertise of SPSS-SA can be utilized by OLRAC whenever necessary.
	Ms Anna Retief, General Manager, Anna graduated with a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics at UNISA in 2002. She is currently doing her Honours degree in Statistics at UNISA. Anna joined SPSS-SA in November 2001 and heads up our sales and marketing activities. She also presents seminars and helps with training.
	Mr. Klay Martens, Data Mining, SPSS-SA Klay graduated in 2001 with a Diploma in Datametrics from UNISA. He is responsible for Solution Sales Support as well as technical support for the Suite of Data Mining products offered by SPSS-SA.
	Mr. Gareth Goodleser, Training and Technical Support, Gareth graduated with a B.Sc. in Statistics from University of Cape Town in 2002 and obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) in Actuarial Science from UCT in 2004. Prior to joining SPSS-SA, Gareth was a full-time tutor for first year Statistics Students at UCT. Gareth presents training courses in Cape Town and provides statistical and technical support. He works closely with Klay on Proof of Concepts
	Ms Sanet Seebregts, Sales Manager, Sanet graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Stellenbosch in 1988 and obtained her HDE from 1989. Sanet is in charge of sales and is responsible for all training logistics and administration.
	Ms. Nadine Shenker, Marketing Manager, Nadine graduated with a B.Sc. Honours in Industrial Mathematics from the University of Cape Town in 2002. Nadine is in charge of Marketing and assists Mike and Klay with Proof of Concept projects. She also presents training in Cape Town.
	Ms Elisa Phaphazela, Training and Technical Support, SPSS-SA (Kyalami Training Centre, Midrand): Elisa graduated with a B.Sc. in Statistics and Computer Science from Vista University in 2002. She presents training courses in Gauteng, and provides some technical support.
	Ms Dineo Mmako, Training and Technical Support, (Kyalami Training Centre, Midrand): Dineo graduated with a B.Sc. in Statistics and Chemistry from Vista University in 2002. She presents training courses in Gauteng, and provides technical support.