Get to know the members of ORSSA: Robert Bennetto

In this edition of Get to Know the Members of ORSSA, we turn the spotlight to a member of the Executive Committee who plays a vital role behind the scenes, our Treasurer, Robert Bennetto. In this short interview, we get to know the person behind the role, exploring his interests, experiences, and perspective on being part of ORSSA.

Rob, what is your academic and professional background?

 "I studied Actuarial Science and Mathematical Statistics at Wits University and completed my MSc (Wits) in Mathematical Statistics and PhD (Stellenbosch) Industrial Engineering while working professionally."

How (and when) did you first get involved with ORSSA?

"I was fortunate enough to have a colleague who I worked with early on in my career that was completing her MSc who insisted I become an ORSSA member as I was working as an Operations Researcher at the time (without knowing it)."

What position do you hold on Exec and for how long have you had this position?

"I’m the ORSSA Treasurer and have been for a number of years now. Prior to that I was the Johannesburg Chapter Chair."

Tell us a bit more about what your role includes on the Exec.

"We have fiduciary obligations as a not-for-profit organisation and administration in terms of our financial reporting to members. We need to ensure we’re spending the money we receive in the right place and deliver value to the community and our membership base."

Have you had any other positions on the Exec of ORSSA (and if so, when)?

"I don’t think so, other than being an additional member when I was the LOC chair for one of the conferences held in Gauteng."

What do you feel is the biggest benefit of being a member of ORSSA?

"My view is that it can be very easy to get wrapped up in the problems you’re solving in your own myopic silo as a professional. One of the joys of ORSSA is being able to engage and follow a community of like-minded folk who are also solving tricky problems but using different techniques, technologies, and facing different business challenges. Hearing the stories, looking at the approaches and chatting to people can sometimes spark an idea that ultimately helps you with your own work. This doesn’t happen at a daily frequency, I personally look forward to the annual conferences with great anticipation because it gives me a sense of where others are placing emphasis from a commercial perspective and where academic research is placing emphasis. Operations research is such a vast field that just seeing how others attack problems constantly gives us little nuggets of information on what we could be doing better."

What excites you about the field of OR?

"Operations Research has such an interesting backstory that’s mostly invisible to the man on the street. When you understand the origin story for the field and how it’s being adopted today it feels a bit like a superpower because there are very few problems that feel like they can’t be solved when adopting an OR mindset."

Was there a specific project or moment that made you realise, "This is why I love OR"?

"For me that would be the DFJ optimality proof approach to the TSP (Travelling Salesman Problem). I recall the moment the penny dropped and it revealed an elegance not just in the mathematics involved, but the approach being borne out of having to do it by hand. It gave me an appreciation for the subtle complexity of the body work in the field."

What skills do you think OR students should focus on developing today?

"This is a tough one because I think with the modern AI tools being able to code isn’t a prerequisite anymore. This probably lowers the barrier to the field quite a bit so it’s a net positive. The downside is that with the AI pipeline the access to material and plethora of information we’re expected to ingest and understand the subtle details of some of these techniques, their shortcomings. limitations and such, will often be lost in the wash of information. Honing critical thinking skills and remaining a bit cynical about new, untested approaches, is a useful intuition to curate over time. This is an easy thing to say, but it’s a tricky one to pin down with precision."

What piece of advice would you give to students or those new to OR?

"My suggestion would be to attend the ORSSA conference, attend social events and just chat to people in the society \- and be fearless with your questions. There are so many interesting problem domains, people, and common threads that we all face. It’s not only useful to share in the common difficulties many face, but also understand the mindset and approaches (the soft OR and hard OR aspects) to problem solving. Part of me wishes I had started doing this earlier on in my career to get a better feel for the landscape. Engagement isn’t a like-counter; it’s a conversation with another person and it’s a process of discovery to glean wisdom."

Why not take Rob's advice and register for this year's ORSSA conference taking place in Stellenbosch from 27 to 30 September 2026, find out more here.