I was born in Randburg, South Africa. My pre-PhD work was done at the Rand Afrikaans University, now the University of Johannesburg. I obtained my PhD from the University of South Africa. When I moved out of Johannesburg, it was to settle in Pretoria, 60 kilometres north of Johannesburg. I\’ve also lived in Pittsburgh and Wollongong for shorter periods before moving to Sydney in 2003. While living in Wollongong and Sydney I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time with my personal and professional mentor, Norman Foo. My friend Samir Chopra best captured Norman in this blog post. In 2007 I moved back to Pretoria, and in 2016 I moved to Cape Town. I am married to Louise Leenen. We have two sons, Thomas and André.