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Directorate



1. Gerrit Thomas Ferreira (61) Non-executive Chairman

BCom, Hons B (B&A), MBA
Appointed: November 1987 GT Ferreira has been involved in the financial services sector since graduating from the University of Stellenbosch. He started his career at the Bank of Johannesburg in 1972 and was a co-founder of Rand Consolidated Investments (“RCI”) in 1977. RCI acquired control of Rand Merchant Bank (“RMB”) in 1985 and he was managing director of RMB from 1985 to 1988 after which he was elected as executive chairman. When RMBH was founded in 1987 he was appointed chairman, a position which he still holds. Following the formation of FirstRand he was appointed non-executive chairman from 1998 to 2008. He is a member of the Council of the University of Stellenbosch.

RMBH – committee memberships

Management committee
Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

None
 

2. Peter Cooper (53) Chief Operating Officer and Financial Director

BCom (Hons), CA(SA), HDipTax
Appointed: November 1999 Peter Cooper graduated from the University of Cape Town. After qualifying as a chartered accountant he worked in the financial services sector, first as a tax consultant and later specialising in structured finance with UAL Merchant Bank. He joined RMB’s Special Projects division in 1992 and transferred to RMB Holdings in 1997. He represents RMBH on the boards of its unlisted investments.

RMBH – committee memberships

Management committee

Listed directorships

Discovery Holdings Limited
 

3. Leon Crouse (56) Non-executive

CA(SA)
Appointed: September 2008 Leon Crouse studied at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1977.

He joined the former Rembrandt Group in 1986 and transferred to Switzerland to hold the position of Financial Controller of Compagnie Financiére Richemont AG. He was part of the team that unbundled the luxury goods business from the Rembrandt Group to form separately listed Richemont.

In 1993, as a Rembrandt appointee, he returned to South Africa to become a founder member of the Vodacom Group executive team finally serving as its Chief Financial Officer. Rembrandt, at the time, held a 15% interest in Vodacom.

RMBH – committee memberships

Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

FirstRand Limited
Remgro Limited
 

4. Lauritz Lanser Dippenaar (60) Non-executive

MCom, CA(SA)
Appointed: November 1987 Laurie Dippenaar graduated from Pretoria University, qualified as a chartered accountant with Aiken & Carter (now KPMG) and spent three years with the Industrial Development Corporation before becoming a co-founder of RCI in 1977. He became an executive director of RMB in 1985. He was appointed managing director of RMB in 1988 which position he held until 1992 when RMBH acquired a controlling interest in Momentum. He served as executive chairman of that company from 1992 until the formation of FirstRand in 1998. He was appointed as the first chief executive of FirstRand and held this position until the end of 2005 when he assumed a non-executive role. He was elected to the position of chairman of FirstRand in November 2008.

RMBH – committee memberships

Management committee
Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

FirstRand Limited – Chairman
 

5. Jan Willem Dreyer (58) Independent non-executive

BCom, LLB, HDip Co Law, HDipTax
Appointed: October 1987 Jan Dreyer is a graduate of Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand. He joined Edward Nathan Friedland Mansell & Lewis where he was admitted as an attorney in 1975. Thereafter he joined Hofmeyr Van der Merwe & Botha, where he worked as a commercial lawyer. He was admitted as a partner in 1978 and was chairman of the firm from 1993 until 1999. In 2000 Jan left the legal profession to join the Rembrandt Group as an executive director. Upon the split of that company into Remgro and Venfin, he became a non-executive director of each of the two companies. He was re-appointed an executive director of Remgro during November 2008. He joined the board of RMB in 1984 and on the formation of RMBH, joined its board.

RMBH – committee memberships

Audit and Risk committee
Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

Dorbyl Limited
Remgro Limited
Trans Hex Group Limited

 

6. Patrick Maguire Goss (61) Independent non-executive

BEcon (Hons), BAccSc (Hons), CA(SA)
Appointed: November 1987 Pat Goss graduated from the University of Stellenbosch. He qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young and then joined the Industrial Development Corporation. He has served as a director on various group companies for the past 30 years. A former chairman of the Natal Parks Board, his family interests include Umngazi River Bungalows and other conservation related activities. RMBH – committee membership

RMBH – committee memberships

Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

FirstRand Limited
 

7. Paul Kenneth Harris (59) Non-executive

MCom
Appointed: July 1992 Paul Harris graduated from the University of Stellenbosch and joined the Industrial Development Corporation. He was a co-founder of RCI in 1977 and he became an executive director of RMB in 1985. He spent four years in Australia where he founded Australian Gilt Securities (later to become RMB Australia) and returned to South Africa in 1991 as deputy managing director of RMB. In 1992, he took over as chief executive officer. Subsequent to the formation of FirstRand, he was appointed chief executive officer of FirstRand Bank Holdings in 1999, a position he held until December 2005 when he was appointed chief executive officer of FirstRand. He will retire from his executive position at the end of December 2009.

RMBH – committee memberships

Management committee
Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

FirstRand Limited – Chief Executive Officer
Remgro Limited
 

8. Sonja Emilia Ncumisa Sebotsa (37) Independent non-executive

LLB (Hons) LSE, MA (McGill), SFA
Appointed: February 2008 Ms Sebotsa is a principal partner in Identity Partners, an investment firm which holds equity investments, carries out advisory work and facilitates finance for SME‘s by the Identity Development Fund.

Sonja Sebotsa‘s areas of study were in Law, Business and Economics. She had been an executive director of WDB Investment Holdings where she led the structuring of WDB‘s participation in the FirstRand BEE transaction. As a result, she served as WBD‘s representative on the FirstRand Board. She was previously a vice president in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank, in Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance.

RMBH – committee memberships

Audit and Risk committee
Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

Anglo Platinum Limited
Discovery Holdings Limited
Makalani Holdings Limited
Mr Price Group Limited
 

9. Khehla Cleopas Shubane (53) Independent non-executive

BA (Hons), MBA
Appointed: November 1993 Khehla Shubane graduated at the University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to this he was a student at the University of the North where his studies were terminated following his arrest for political activities, conviction and sentence which he served on Robben Island. Upon his release he was employed at Liberty Life for a short time. He served on various political organisations until joining the Centre for Policy Studies in 1988. He is an author and has co-authored several political publications, and is a member of the board of the Centre for Policy Studies.

RMBH – committee memberships

Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

FirstRand Limited
 

10. Matthys Hendrik Visser (55) Non-executive

BCom (Hons), CA(SA)
Appointed: April 2009 Thys Visser is a chartered accountant who qualified with Arthur Young & Company in Cape Town before joining Rembrandt Group Limited where he held a number of positions, including Financial Director in 1991 and Managing Director in 1992. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Remgro Limited.

RMBH – committee memberships

Directors’ affairs committee

Listed directorships

Distell Group Limited
FirstRand Limited
Medi-Clinic Corporation Limited
Nampak Limited Rainbow Chicken Limited – Chairman
Remgro Limited

 

Document last modified: January 27, 2010    Return to top