Harry Ballard is the Head of Department of Public Management in the Faculty of Business. During a previous work tenure, at the City of Cape Town and Bellville Municipality, he attained a BA degree from the University of South Africa with Psychology and Private Law as his majors. He decided to continue his studies in the legal discipline and obtained the BIuris degree from the University of South Africa. He continued his work career in local government and attained his Honours and Master’s degrees in Public Administration from the University of Stellenbosch. In his capacity as Head of Committee Services at the former Bellville City Council he became interested in public policy and decision-making and attempted in his PhD research to propose a model for more effective decision-making at local government level. A mixed research methodology was adopted and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Cape Town collaborated in this study. The outcome stimulated much academic debate and controversy just post 1994. The PhD degree in Public and Development Management was awarded in 1996 by the University of Stellenbosch. The thesis was entitled “Effective decision-making in a large local authority”. He continued his research and in 1998 a second Master’s degree on International Relations was conferred by the Political Sciences Department at the University of Stellenbosch, at a time when South Africa was being welcomed back in the international community and affected by the trends and influences of globalization and internationalization. The latter two postgraduate degrees were attained whilst employed at the former Peninsula Technikon.



After sixteen years of continued service in local government, Ballard was employed by Deloitte and Touche in 1991 as a management consultant and was actively involved in various consultancy/advisory projects in all three spheres of government. The most notable project was the feasibility study conducted in the South Africa Naval Dockyards in Simonstown which included the streamlining of the operations function within the dockyard, the rationalisation of redundant assets, space utilisation and reviewing the maintenance plans of the old Daphne class submarines.



In January 1993 Ballard commenced duties at the former Peninsula Technikon, as a contract lecturer in the Law Department responsible for the administration and presentation of the public management academic programme, which at that time was the National Diploma and Advanced Diploma. The Public Management academic programme now includes the postgraduate qualifications of Master’s degree and Doctorate in Technology. The department has developed into an autonomous, inter-dependent entity with a personnel complement of thirteen members.



During his years at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Ballard has been employed in various posts from contract lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer to his current position of Head of Department, to which he was promoted in July 1999. From July 1998 to December 2006 he served first as Research Co-ordinator and then as acting Research Co-ordinator for the Faculty of Business with the mandate to initiate, develop, promote and facilitate research amongst academics and students for degree and non-degree purposes.



The Council on Higher Education has contracted him periodically as a Programme Evaluator for graduate and post-graduate academic programmes in the following academic disciplines, namely Marketing Management, Management, and Programme and Project Management, programmes which have been submitted for accreditation.



Ballard has presented a number of local and international academic papers and has published in various accredited journals. He has successfully completed two National Research Foundation funded projects as well as a research project for the Western Cape Provincial Government. He presents training regularly to the three spheres of government and public sector bodies as well as the private sector. Ballard has successfully supervised nineteen Master’s degree candidates in the Public Management and Business Administration disciplines and has also successfully supervised two Doctorates in Technology candidates in the Public Management. Appointed Associate Professor in September 2008 Ballard is chairperson of the Faculty Co-operative Education Committee and the Faculty Structures Committee.



Ballard has also been active in the business sector as an entrepreneur in the capacity of partner, member and director in the retail, manufacturing and restaurant industries, respectively.



Finally, Ballard has played first team club rugby for five seasons and is a silver medalist for the Comrades marathon and Two Oceans ultra marathon. He has completed eleven Two Oceans ultra marathons, ten Two Oceans half marathons and sixteen Cape Argus cycle tours.