Finding excellence in new places

Finance professionals are ready to take on new challenges and add value this year as they move into new roles and to new organisations.

Bongi Ngoma

In June, Auditor-General South Africa’s Bongi Ngoma was promoted to the national head of audit after serving as CFO for nine years. “I am looking forward to adding value in a number of areas. Operationally, to integrate technology in improving our ways of work and resultant outputs. Externally, I am looking forward to sharing deep insights that would add value to our stakeholders," Bongi said. Read more about Bongi’s journey as CFO and new appointment on page 16. Jason Quinn has returned to the role of Absa’s group FD following the appointment of Arrie Rautenbach as the bank’s new CEO. Punki Modise, who has been serving as interim FD since April 2021, has been appointed as the interim CEO of Absa’s Retail and Business Banking division. AECI has appointed Aarti Takoordeen as its new CFO with effect from 20 May 2022. She takes over from Mark Kathan, who was appointed as the head of AECI Mining. “I am excited to join the AECI leadership team and look forward to being part of driving the group’s strategic growth agenda,” Aarti said.

The JSE has subsequently appointed its head of commercial finance, Carmini Kander, as its acting CFO. Liberty Holdings FD Yuresh Maharaj has taken over from David Munro as the group’s CEO. "I am humbled and privileged that the Liberty and Standard Bank Group afforded me the opportunity to lead an organisation with such a deep heritage and rich purpose," Yuresh said.

Capitec co-founder, CFO and FD André du Plessis will be retiring on 30 June 2022 after 22 years with the group. Capitec’s group services financial head Grant Hardy has been identified as the designated CFO and FD to succeed André.

AngloGold Ashanti CFO Christine Ramon has announced that she intends to retire at the end of June, after more than seven years with the company. “I am thankful and proud of my work and achievements at AngloGold Ashanti, and of the exceptional team I’ve worked alongside during that time,” Christine says. “This has been a difficult decision for me but given that I tragically lost my husband to Covid-19 last year, I now need to devote more time in the near term to my two children.” ArcelorMittal South Africa has appointed Suretha van Wyk as its interim CFO until a new CFO is appointed. Suretha’s appointment follows the resignation of CFO Desmond Maharaj. Angela Pillay has tendered her resignation as the FD of Sasfin to pursue other endeavours. Angela joined Sasfin as FD in 2018. Global consulting company Kearney has appointed iOCO group CFO Jo-Ann Pöhl as their new senior advisor. “I am excited to be joining Kearney,” Jo says. “I resonate with their purpose, culture and focus on what is essentially right in the work that they do and who they partner with.” Jo served as the group CFO of iOCO from April 2020 until March 2022.

The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund has appointed Thandie Mashego as its new CFO. Thandie will be taking over from Shafeeq

Mark Kathan

Brushing up on her French

Air Liquide has appointed its CFO, Taki Nkhumeleni, as the Large Industries & Industrial Merchant (LIM) program director for the Europe Industries Hub, and she will be relocating from Johannesburg to Paris to take on this new role. “The most exciting part is that all the experience I’ve had in different roles throughout my career is literally coming together into this one project. It’s good to see that there is never any experience wasted.” Taki says that she needs to brush up on her French really quickly, and started classes a few months ago. “When you get into a different culture, you have to embrace it, and one way to do that is learning to speak the autochthonous language. It is a great way to truly integrate and get connected to the local culture and build relationships.” l

Taki Nkhumeleni

Euan McNeil

Abrahams, who was promoted to the role of chief executive and principal officer last year. Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) CFO Euan McNeil will be taking over the reins from Andrew Stark as the group’s new MD for South Africa. “I am thrilled to continue to build on the legacy Andrew has created for FCTG and look forward to an exciting new era of growth and innovation in both business and leisure travel.”

Ascendis Health CFO, Cheryl-Jane Kujenga, has assumed the joint role of CFO and interim CEO. Her appointment follows the resignation of acting CEO Andrew Marshall. Virgin Active has promoted the MD of its South Africa branch, Mark Field, to the position of group CFO. He will take up this new position once his replacement as MD has been announced.

AVI Group has appointed Justin O’Meara as its new CFO and executive director. Justin takes over from Owen Cressey. Dumisani Dlamini has been promoted to the role of SANParks acting CEO after serving as CFO for four years. “It was unexpected, as I was enjoying my CFO role,” Dumisani says. “But I am humbled by the board’s decision to trust me with the role of leading such an important institution in our country.” Sabvest Capital has appointed Kyle de Matteis as its new CFO. He takes over from retiring CFO Ray Pleaner after serving as deputy CFO since October 2020.

JSE-listed Sirius Real Estate has appointed its group FD Diarmuid Kelly as its new CFO. He takes over from Alistair Marks, who has taken up the newly created role of chief investment officer.

Net1 UEPS Technologies has appointed Naeem Kola as its new group CFO, taking over from Alex Smith, who has been appointed as the group chief accounting officer. “I am very excited to join Net1 during a transformational period for the business,” Naeem said. Bytes Technology Group has appointed Andrew Holden as its CFO following the retirement of Keith Richardson. The responsibilities that Andrew held in his previous position as COO will be absorbed into his CFO role. “I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for the group. I am also looking forward to working closely with Neil [Murphy, Bytes CEO] to maximise the growth potential of Bytes.” Doug Lafferty has resigned as the CFO of Vivo Energy to take up the position of CFO at Aston Martin Lagonda Group. “I’m proud of how the recovery has continued, and the strong performance of the company during my tenure,” Doug said. “I firmly believe that the strategy is right to provide long-term benefits to our customers and our broader stakeholders; and in the significant long-term potential of Vivo Energy.” Tatenda Maponga has been appointed as Arden Capital’s interim CFO, allowing Peter Saungweme to focus on the CEO role solely. Pembury Lifestyle Group has appointed Cordelia Sachiti as its new FD following the resignation of Thabo Tshepuwane after only four months in the role.

Balwin Properties has appointed Jonathan Bigham as its new CFO. He takes over from Jonathan Weltman, who resigned as CFO for “health reasons”.

Dumisani Dlamini

Nadia Statham has been appointed as the FD of blasting and explosives company BME, a member of Omnia Group. “Despite the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is an exciting time to be serving the mining sector,” Nadia says. “Minerals remain vital to global growth, and I am looking forward to helping strengthen BME’s financial capability to drive our contribution and performance.” Grinaker-LTA has appointed Esethu Mancotywa as its new CFO. WG Wearne has appointed Albertus Badenhorst as its interim FD. His appointment follows the resignation of Norman Janse van Rensburg at the beginning of February. Megan Segers was appointed as the CFO of Starlite Aviation Group. “My goals for the immediate future are to ensure that management and staff are well versed in the use of the latest reporting software to make ‘on the go’ decisions,” she says. “Aviation is a fast-paced environment that requires tailored dashboards to ensure all decisions enhance and align to our strategic goals.” SA Corporate Real Estate has appointed Sam Moodley as its new CFO. Sam takes over from Antoinette Basson, who resigned in December 2021 to pursue a career opportunity in the Western Cape. Irene Koeppel has been appointed as the new CFO of SuperDrive. Irene, who has signed a four-year contract, will arrive in South Africa from The Netherlands at the end of October and take up the role in November. Hannes van Eeden has taken up the position of CFO at Luxe Jewellery and Watch Division. The move saw Hannes resign as the Luxe Holdings CFO, a role he held since January 2019.

TerraCom Resources’s Australia CFO, Celeste van Tonder, will now focus on the company’s South African operations in the role of CFO. The mining company has also appointed Megan Etcell as its interim CFO for its Australia operations, replacing Celeste.

Esethu Mancotywa

Dries Ferreira resigned as the FD of Newpark REIT as of January 2022 in order to pursue other interests. Acsion has appointed Chris Jansen van Rensburg as its new executive FD and CFO following the resignation of Sandarie le Roux.

Ellies Holdings CFO Chris Booyens reached his compulsory retirement age according to the Ellies policy, and retired from his role in January. New Frontier Properties has appointed Leon Thompson as its new FD following the immediate resignation of Richard Bolleurs due to ill health.

Corrie Verburg has been appointed as the CFO of BlueSky. “Financial nimbleness in the age of digitalisation is a must, and it’s an objective that we need to strive for daily,” Corrie says. “In my role as CFO, digital financial transformation is a passion point and needs to be embedded throughout BlueSky.” Prudential Portfolio Managers has appointed its CFO Chris Sickle as its new CEO. “It is with great pride and excitement that I accept the appointment,” Chris says. His appointment follows CEO Bernard Fick’s decision to take a break from formal employment. MAS Group has appointed Raluca Buzuleac as its new deputy CFO. She will be taking over from CFO Irina Girgore, who was appointed as deputy CEO in August 2021. Life Healthcare has appointed experienced CFO Cindy Hess to the board of directors as an independent non-executive director. Cindy has served as the CFO at Media24, Pioneer Food Group and Sea Harvest Group. Royal Bafokeng Platinum has appointed its head of finance Rotshidzwa Manenzhe as its new acting CFO. She takes over from Hanré Rossouw, who has joined Sasol as its new CFO-designate. Old Mutual Life Assurance appointed experienced CFO Funke Ighodaro as chairperson of its audit committee in November 2021. Funke is the former CFO of Tiger Brands and Primedia.

Thuli Manyoha has resigned as the FD of Old Mutual Insure to pursue other opportunities. She held the role since January 2018. Vedanta Zinc International CFO Pushpender Singla has been appointed as a member of the Minerals Council South Africa board. “I am pleased and honoured to join the board of the Minerals Council South Africa,” Pushpender said. “I look forward to contributing to the success of the organisation and contributing to further transformation, development and growth of the South African mining industry.”

Chrisanthi Michaelides

Calgro M3 has appointed Sayuri Naicker as its new FD. Her appointment follows Waldi Joubert relinquishing the role of FD to serve as managing director of the company’s Memorial Parks business. Following the appointment of Sugendhree Reddy as Access Bank South Africa’s new CEO, Chrisanthi Michaelides has stepped back into her role as CFO of the bank after serving as acting CEO since September 2021. Emerald Risk Transfer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santam, has announced the promotion of its CFO, Carla Jordan, to CEO with effect from March. Stepping into the CFO role will be Nonte Nzimakwe, who has been with Emerald since 2016.

Umgeni Water has appointed Thamsanqa Mkhwanazi as its new CFO and debt officer. He takes over from Kajal Singh, who has been serving as acting CFO since November 2020.

African Bank has appointed its group CFO Gustav Raubenheimer as the new group executive of data science. The move will see Gustav step down from his role as CFO, which he has held for the past 10 years. l

Sheldon Friedericksen

Accelerated development

Sheldon Friedericksen has been with Fedgroup for seven years, starting as a group financial manager in 2014 and becoming CFO in 2016 – all before the age of 37. “I have been on this journey, operating within the financial services industry and bringing our entrepreneurial energy to challenge the status quo, while focused on achieving the tremendous results required by the group,” he explains. Reflecting on his journey over the past seven years, and looking forward to his continued development, Sheldon has decided that a new opportunity will create an environment that would enable him to accelerate his development. “I love to be challenged, love to learn, and love to work with collaborative teams trying to make a difference through entrepreneurial thinking,” he says. Starting January 2022, Sheldon joined Transaction Capital Group in the SA Taxi subsidiary as a finance executive in the insurance segment. He says that one of the highlights of his time at Fedgroup has been the tremendous growth that the group has experienced. “This growth is not just in asset under management, revenue, etc, but in the growth in the capacity and capabilities of the employees, brand awareness and digitisation of engagement channels.” l