Wisdom honed by past crises

Lifetime Achiever Promoting th e success of others

Encouraging bosses shaped Jacko Maree’s management style, and he is proud of the young people he has helped

By ANGELIQUE ARDÉ

● Tenacious, unflinching, courageous. An excellent mediator. A visionarywith a fearless dedication to nurturing black talent. ThisishowJacko Mareeisdescribedina 2013 specialedition ofPinnacle magazine, published by the Associationof Black Securities and Investment Professionals, in honour ofhis contributionto transformationin the financial services sector.

Maree was one of the principal architects ofthe financialsectorcharterin 2004,a transformation policy to promote broadbased BEE.

“Soon after I becameCEO [of Standard Bank Group]in 1999, a lotwas happening around BEE in the mining sector, with speculation about changes to mining rights.

“A few of us felt we had to get on the front foot and commit to what we were going to do topromoteBEEin thefinancialservicessector. Thatculminatedin thecharter.Iledthe sector —thebanks, insurance companies, pension funds, unit trust companies —to negotiate and signit .

“Itwas abig achievement,but itwould not have happened withoutthe support and guidanceof mychair,DerekCooper, andSakiMacozoma,whowas onourboard.They were deeplycommitted totransformation, and wise,”he says.

Reflecting on his 40-year career as a banker, Mareesays histhree bossesat Standard MerchantBank —EddieTheron, Div Geeringh and Pieter Prinsloo—all had a powerful influence on his life.

“Mostpeopleget squashedbytheirbosses, but I was encouraged and promoted by mine.They werealways justtryingto getme

Jacko Maree received many accolades.

tosucceed. Andtheypushedme aheadof themselves . ”Mareesays thiskindofleadership shapedhis own, which wasinclined towards developing young people.

Thefactthat StandardBankboaststhe mosttransformedtop managementteamof all the major banks is no accident. “Si m Tshabalala [Standard Bank Group CEO] has assembled anincredible team. Ihad arole to playin thecareers ofmost ofthem, andI’m proud of that.

“There ’s been a long list of alumni from thebank who’vedone reallywell inother fields,and ithasgivenme greatpleasureto have played a part in their development. Seeingyoungpeoplesucceed hasbeenagreat thrill for me,”he says.

Mareesays oneof themost powerfulinfluences onhis life was StAndrew’s College in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), where he wentto schooluntil1973,whenhe went to Stellenbosch University.

After obtaininga BSc(cumlaude) degree in1976 hestudied atOxfordUniversity asa Rhodes Scholar. He graduated in 1980 with a first classMAdegree inpolitics, philosophy and economics.

Maree ’s careerat StandardBank started in 1980,when hejoined thecorporate finance department of Standard Merchant Bank (SMB). He was appointed MD of SMB in 1991, and MD of thenewlyformedStandard Corporate & Merchant Bank in 1995.

He became CEO of the Standard Bank Groupatthe heightofoneof themostseriouschallenges thebankhadever faced—a hostile takeover bid by Nedbank.

Successfully defendingthe bid wasa career highlight.

“It wasthe biggesthostile bidin SA’s history —a nine-month battle. Nedbank was the darling of the banking industry and Old Mutual was its biggest shareholder. It was a formidable combination.Everyone assumed they were going to win. Standard Bank was a muchlargerbank withabiggercustomer base and stronger brand name, but it had lost its waya little. IfNedbank had gotit, it would ’ve been a complete steal.

“We fought for what was right and won. It galvanised the organisation, andfor three or four years everyone was united.

“It ’s not often that a CEO has the entire organisation supportingthe leadershipteam. Myles Ruck, Ben Kruger, Peter WhartonHood and I appointed a lot of young people, like Tshabalala, and gave them huge portfolios, and the organisation flew from there.”

Another career high —and perhaps his most significant achievement —was overseeing the strategic partnership between StandardBankand theIndustrialandCommercialBank ofChina (ICBC)in2007. Atthe time the$5.5bn, 20% equityinvestment in StandardBank wasthelargest foreign direct investment ever made inthe country.

The deal, which was concluded in 120 days,still livestoday,withtwo ICBCmembers on the bank’s board.

InMarch 2013,Mareestepped downas group CEOofStandard Bankaftermorethan 13 yearsat the helmof Africa’slargest bank, which operatesin 20countries onthe continent.Under hisleadershipthe bank’s share priceincreased fromR21 toR118, thedividend per share wasup almost seven times, and the group’s market capitalisation grew from R30bnto R190bn.

Maree, who is 65, is n on executive deputy chair of StandardBank,n on executive chair of Liberty Holdings and a nonexecu tive board memberof PhembaniGroup. Healso serves as one of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment envoys.

He has received numerous peer accolades and awards.

In 2004 he received the Wits Business School Annual Management Excellence award.In 2005hewasnamed TheSunday Times BusinessLeader ofthe Year.In 2005 and 2006he wasvoted Moneyweb’sCEO of the Year.

In 2007, 2008and2009he wasvotedthe mosttrusted CEOin SAbyAsk Africa’s annual Trust Barometer study.