Avril Halstead serves as the Deputy Director General at the Department of Public Enterprises responsible for overseeing the integrated freight rail, ports and pipeline company, national airlines and defence manufacturing state-owned enterprises.

Previously, she was Chief Director at the National Treasury in South Africa, and has done work as an international expert on state-owned enterprises for the International Monetary Fund. During 2017 she undertook a secondment at the German Development Bank - KfW. She also worked for McKinsey & Company, Old Mutual and Wipcapital and a number of NGOs

She is a member of the board of the agency that builds national roads and trustee and treasurer of the South African Mobility for the Blind Trust (SAMBT). She was previously a Trustee of the National Empowerment Fund, a development finance institution with the mandate to promote and facilitate broad-based black economic empowerment. 

Halstead has an MSc in Economic Policy from the University of London, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and an MA in Organizational Consulting from City University.