Board of directors

Age: 71

(Chair of Nomination Committee)

Joined the Board: October 2007

Larry Nestadt has a long and successful global corporate career.

He is a co-founder and former executive director of Investec Bank Limited. Larry has been instrumental in the creation and strategic development of a number of listed companies including Capital Alliance Holdings Limited (Capital Alliance Life – acquired by Liberty Life; Capital Alliance Bank – now Brait), Super Group Limited, HCI Limited, SIB Holdings Limited, CorpGro Limited and Global Capital Limited. He also served as past chairman on the boards of these companies. Previously, Larry sat on the boards of Softline Limited, JCI Limited and Abacus Technologies Holdings Limited.

Further, he has been a former chairman on a number of non-listed company boards both in South Africa and abroad, including Stenham Limited (UK) and Prefsure Life Limited (AUS). Larry is the current executive chairman of Global Capital Proprietary Limited and the current chairman of Blue Label Telecoms Limited, Dis-Chem Pharmacies Limited, Universal Partners Limited, National Airways Corporation Proprietary Limited, Morecorp Group, Melrose Motor Investments Proprietary Limited and SellDirect Marketing Proprietary Limited. He also serves as deputy chairman of Cell C Limited. Larry is a life member of the World Presidents’ Organisation, Lloyds of London (since 1983).

As a respected senior member of the South African business community, his strategic vision, guidance and experience contribute significantly to the Board and its deliberations.

Age: 47

Serves as director of various Group companies

Joined the Board: February 2007

Brett has an impressive entrepreneurial record of founding and operating many small businesses across a wide range of industries.

Brett has an impressive entrepreneurial record of founding and operating many small businesses across a wide range of industries.

These include the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods and insurance replacements for electronic goods. Brett plays a key role in developing the Group’s strategy and commercial negotiations. His achievements have earned him a number of prestigious nominations, accolades and awards. These include the Absa Bank Jewish Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2003) and the Absa Jewish Business Achiever Non-Listed Company Award (2007), which he won jointly with his brother Mark. Brett was nominated as an Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur SA Finalist for 2007.

In 2010 he received the Liberty Life Award for a Remarkable Success Story in the David Awards and was a finalist in the Top Young Entrepreneur category of the African Access National Business Awards. In 2011 he shared the Top Entrepreneur accolade in the African Access National Business Awards with Mark.

Age: 51

BCompt (Unisa)

Serves as director of various Group companies

Joined the Board: February 2007

Mark graduated with a BCompt from Unisa in 1993. After some years as a commodities trader, he decided to pursue a goal of becoming an entrepreneur.

At Blue Label, Mark is integral in spearheading the execution of Blue Label’s growth strategy, integration of acquisitions and development of the IT architecture. His leadership stature is frequently recognised. Together with his brother Brett, Mark received the Absa Bank Jewish Business Achiever Non-Listed Company Award (2007). He was nominated as an Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur SA finalist for 2007.

In 2010 Mark was voted Top IT Personality of the Year by ITWeb and was a finalist in the Top Young Entrepreneur category of the African Access National Business Awards. In 2011 he shared the Top Entrepreneur accolade in the African Access National Business Awards with Brett.

Age: 45

(Alternate to Brett Levy on Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee)

BCom (Wits), Hons (Unisa), Chartered Accountant (SA)

Serves as director of various Group companies

Joined the Board: November 2013

Dean completed his articles at PwC where he continued working after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (SA), participating in the audits of various large corporations and multinational companies.

In 2003 he joined BSC Technologies, a business established by the Levy brothers, and where he later became financial director. In 2005 he transferred to The Prepaid Company in the role of Financial Director. In heading up finance at Blue Label, Dean contributes significantly to the governance and reporting systems across the Group. Dean is a member of SAICA.

Age: 64

BBusSci (Hons) (UCT), FCMA, CGMA, CA(SA)

(Chair of Investment Committee)
(Chair of Remuneration Committee)

Serves as director and chairman of various Group companies

Joined the Board: October 2007

Gary graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1979, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1982, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK) in 1983 and as a Fellow Chartered Management Accountant (UK) in 1996. His career was forged in merchant and investment banking.

In the early 1990s he became an adviser to the African National Congress in developing black economic empowerment strategies, and in 1992 was instrumental in the creation of Thebe Investment Corporation, South Africa’s first broadbased black-owned company. Gary served as joint CEO of Msele Corporate and Merchant Bank, South Africa’s first blackcontrolled merchant bank.

In 1996, Gary was appointed group CEO of Unihold Limited, where he remains executive chairman. He led its transition from an engineering conglomerate to an international IT and telecommunications group, followed by a delisting through a management buyout in 2002. Gary serves on various other private and public boards.

Age: 54

National Diploma in Company Administration

Serves as director of TPC

Joined the Board: December 2009

Kevin joined the family business, Ellerine Holdings, in 1991. After serving in various roles, in 1993 he was appointed as property manager of Ellerine Bros. Proprietary Limited, rising to managing director of the property division in 2000, a position he still holds today.

He sits on the boards of the property and private equity companies in which Ellerines is invested. He is also a director of Hyprop Investments Limited and Newpark REIT Limited. Kevin’s all-round business skill and acumen contribute to the Board and Committee deliberations of the Group.

Age: 61

BA (Unisa), MA (Thames Valley), MA (London), MBA (California Coast University)

(Chair of Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee)

Joined the Board: October 2011

Jerry has held various executive positions in government and in the business sector, including that of director for Commerce and Industry at SAICA and MD of the Black Management Forum (BMF), where he also served on the board of the BMF investment company. He was nominated by Parliament and appointed by the President as a public service commissioner in 1998. In the recent past, he served as a member of the B-BBEE Advisory Council, and the first National Planning Commission. Jerry was chairman of the Mpumalanga Gambling Board, Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency and the State Information Technology Agency (SOC) Proprietary Limited until the end of his term in 2015. He previously served on the boards of PPC Limited and Goliath Gold Limited, and held the position of chairman of Netcare Limited as well as adviser to Citibank.

Jerry is executive chairman of Palama, which he co-founded. He was the CEO of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and has also served as chairman of the SADC Employer Group and the EU-Southern African Business Council. In addition to representing business at Nedlac, he served as a member of the King Committee on Corporate Governance, the National Anti-corruption Forum and SADC Business Forum. He currently serves on the boards of Cell C Limited and Sibanye-Stillwater Limited, where he also chairs the social and ethics committee. He was recently appointed adjunct professor at UNISA in the College of Economic and Management Sciences.

Age: 57

BCompt (Hons), CTA (Unisa), Chartered Accountant (SA)

(Chair of Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee)

Serves as director of various Group companies

Joined the Board: October 2007

Joe qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1993. In 1996, he co-founded Gobodo Incorporated, an accounting practice with eight other partners which later became SNG Grant Thornton.

In 1999, he led a management buy-out of Gobodo Corporate Finance from the accounting firm and rebranded it aloeCap Proprietary Limited, of which he is currently the executive chairman. He serves on the board of directors of various non-listed companies in which aloeCap is invested. Joe is an independent non-executive director of Dis-Chem Pharmacies Limited and the chairman of Cell C Limited. He is also chairman of the Dis-Chem audit committee.

Age: 66

BCompt (Hons) CA(SA)

Joined the Board: September 2020

Nomavuso is a Chartered Accountant (SA), having obtained her BCompt and Hons from the University of South Africa. She received her training from Deloitte & Touche. After completing her articles, she spent one year at Deloitte before joining SizweNtsaluba VSP (formerly Nkonki Sizwe Ntsaluba).

During her tenure at SizweNtsaluba, she specialised in consulting, internal auditing and attest function. She started the corporate governance division which housed the internal audit services, as she identified this opportunity during the introduction of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). She was also involved in staff development and training as a staff partner for five years. She then joined the Imperial Group as the Group Audit and Risk Executive. While at Imperial she introduced Training Outside Public Practice (TOPP). When she left the group, she had 11 TOPP trainees who were spread across the group, and she still assists Imperial Group on a consulting basis to ensure they receive adequate training. She was appointed to serve on the board of Imperial Bank as a non-executive director representing Imperial, the position she held until the bank surrendered its banking licence in September 2010. Nomavuso sits on a number of boards in both listed and unlisted companies.

Age: 62

BCom (Fort Hare), BCom Hons (Witwatersrand), M Com (RAU), Dip SBID (Technion – Israel), DCom hc (Fort Hare), DHumanities hc (Thomas a Becket – Edinburgh)

Serves as director and Chairman of Comm Equipment Company

Joined the Board: October 2020

Lazarus has extensive experience as CEO and chairman of blue chip companies across a wide range of industries.

Lazarus is the founder and chairman of Zanozi Properties & Commodities. He is the former CEO of Anglo American South Africa Limited and former chairman of Anglo Operations Limited (AOL). He has served on the boards of directors of MTN Group, Anglo Gold Ashanti, Anglo American Platinum, Kumba Resources, Mondi South Africa, and Tongaat Hulett. He is a former chairman of Kumba Iron Ore, Telkom SA and TransHex Group.

In 2006, he invested in Mvelaphanda Resources which held significant stakes in Northam Platinum, TransHex Group and Goldfields Limited. He retired from mining boards in 2017 after 10 years as chairman of Northam and after serving as founder chairman of Zambezi Platinum. During his tenure, Northam expanded from being a one mine company (Zondereinde) to multi-shaft operations, which included the successful design, development and commissioning of Booysendal Mine and the acquisition of Eland Platinum.

Lazarus is past president of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa and was voted African Business Leader of the Year in 2005. He is also a retired Honorary Colonel in the South African Army. He holds a BCom degree from Fort Hare, a BCom Honours from Wits, an MCom from RAU and a DCom (honoris causa) from Fort Hare. He has also served on the boards of Sanlam, Armscor, and on the International Advisory Council of Capital International (USA). Between 1994 and 2003 he held several executive positions at M-Net Supersport, Multichoice and MTN Group.