Warren Hero started working at SARS on 1 May 2024 as Head of Segment, Product, and Process.

He was previously CIO/CDO at Webber Wentzel from May 2018 to December 2023. His significant focus areas were platform modernisation, building digital capabilities, and artificial intelligence.

Warren Hero, appointed Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft, believes in the importance of doing good while doing good business. And the core belief statement: We believe that working together changes lives!

The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) recently nominated him as a finalist in the President’s Awards as a Visionary CIO. He also received the High-Performance Team Award 2023 from the SA CIO Council and the Innovation Leader from the Future Leaders Forum.

He had a tenure as Chief Information and Operations Officer for Eduloan, a leading provider of study loans in South Africa; he has a keen understanding of the financial services industry.

He has spent most of his career in this sector. From 1999 he was at ABSA as Head of Telephone and Internet Banking; in 2001, he joined Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which had an outsourcing agreement with Nedbank, on the Corporate and IT desk. On termination of that contract, he joined Nedbank in the same capacity, and in 2003, he went to FNB Homeloans as Executive Manager of Customer Experience Management.

Warren was the first of two global Fellows with the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA). The ICA, currently headquartered in Canada, is a non-profit international association that promotes and facilitates the informal exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences in the management, organisational impact and use of information technology in central government administration.

Warren also chairs the SAP SA CRM User Group of the German multinational software corporation.

In 2006, he was appointed Head of Electronic Governance at the Gauteng Provincial Government, citing his extensive knowledge of technology and its application in public administration.

Warren has a BSc from the University of the Witwatersrand and is completing a dissertation for a Master’s degree in Technology and Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute in Modderfontein, Johannesburg.

While studying, his career started in 1992 when he worked as a freelance presenter at the SABC. After graduating, his early career path consisted of establishing and managing call centres for various companies, including MultiChoice, DSTV, International Healthcare Distributors and Van de Venter Meiring Attorneys.

Warren, who has completed a range of coaching and mentorship programmes, is certified by Change First as a people change management expert. In his private capacity, he has mentored young leaders through the GIBS women's development programme, Imbokodo.

He participates in structures to ensure ICT access for disadvantaged communities. His other corporate social investment work includes his role in youth development for Youth for Christ and in community organisations in Kliptown and Sunninghill.

He has also been involved in community and professional organisations as chairman of the International Network of e-communities (registered in Amsterdam), committee member of the Presidential Commission on the Information Society and Development, and member of the Committee responsible for drafting ICT governance standards for South Africa.