Directors

Board composition

Omnia Holdings has a unitary board structure, comprising a majority of non-executive directors independent of management. The board comprised 12 directors: 10 independent non-executive directors and two executive directors. The board as a whole selects and appoints new directors. Formal procedure is followed with all appointments, which are confirmed by shareholders at the following annual general meeting.

Group directorate

Independent Non-executive directors

Ralph Havenstein

Age: 63
Qualifications: BCom; MSc (Chem Eng)
Designation: Chairman
Date of appointment: 6 November 2007 - Board
: 30 March 2011 - Social, ethics and risk committee
: 24 February 2017 - Remuneration and nominations committee
Board committee membership: Social, ethics and risk committee and Remuneration and nominations committee
Significant JSE listed directorships: Northam Platinum Limited, Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited
Number of non-significant unlisted directorships: 2

Skills and expertise: Engineering, governance, risk management, strategy, chemicals and mining industry

Experience: Previously served as director of Anglo Platinum, Simmer and Jack, Mintek and Sasol and on councils of Chamber of Mines and Chemical and Allied Industries' Association (CAIA).

Ronnie Bowen

Age: 68
Qualifications: BSc (Hons)
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 28 September 2011 - Board
: 13 April 2017 - Audit committee
Board committee membership: Audit committee
Significant directorships: None

Skills and expertise: Business management, strategy, global & local governance, Chemicals industry

Experience: Former senior executive, managing speciality chemical businesses on 5 continents for Süd-Chemie AG, Germany for 30 years. He also worked for Ashland Chemicals Inc. of the United States. He has served on several boards, both locally and internationally, as managing director, executive director and chairman with joint-venture shareholders such as Sasol Limited, the Industrial Development Corporation, Central Energy Fund (CEF) Limited and PetroSA. He is a council member of a large global marketing consultancy and a member of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA).

Prof. Nick Binedell

Age: 66
Qualifications: BCom; MBA; PhD
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 24 February 2017 - Board
Board committee membership: None
Significant directorships: None

Skills and expertise: Business management, strategy, governance, finance

Experience: Nick is a professor of strategy and leadership at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in South Africa. In 1998, he was appointed to establish GIBS where he was Director and Dean from 2000-2015. He was a board member of the International Management Board of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and served two terms as president of the Association of SA Business Schools (SABSA).

George Cavaleros

Age: 64
Qualifications: CA(SA), CFA, ACIS, CIA, CISA, M.Com (Applied Risk Management)
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 5 August 2019 - Board
: 5 August 2019 - Audit committee
: 16 October 2019 – Remuneration and nominations committee
Board committee membership: Remuneration and nominations committee
: Audit committee
Significant directorships: Accelerate Property Fund Limited
Sygnia Limited
Number of non-significant directorships: 0

Skills and expertise: External and internal audit, finance and accounting, risk management, controls, corporate governance

Experience: George retired from Deloitte during 2015 after a 30-year career with the firm. As a financial services industry partner, George provided audit and a variety of other professional services to clients including life insurance and re-insurance companies, asset managers, hedge funds and other finance entities. Currently, George serves as an independent non-executive director on the board of Accelerate Property Fund Limited, a listed real estate investment trust (REIT), where he is a member of the audit and risk, remuneration, and nominations committees.

George is also the lead independent non-executive director of a financial services group, Sygnia Limited, and chairs the group’s audit and risk committees.

Previously, George held audit committee leadership positions at a medical scheme and a leading South African university.

Tina Eboka

Age: 61
Qualifications: BSc (Industrial Eng, Textile Eng), MBA
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 25 February 2016 - Board
: 14 March 2018 - Audit committee
Board committee membership: Audit committee
Significant directorships: NTP Radiosotopes (SOC) Limited
Number of non-significant directorships: 2

Skills and expertise: Business management, strategy, engineering, corporate and social affairs

Experience: Tina is currently Group managing director of NTP Radiosotopes (SOC) Limited, the commercial subsidiary of NECSA. She is the current vice chair of the OECD -NEA committee of medical radioisotopes. Her work experience in private and public sectors includes banking, science/technology research, retail and manufacturing sectors.

She is a recognised business turnaround specialist who has served as executive director of Standard Bank responsible for setting up group corporate affairs, previously was vice president at CSIR; a senior manager in textiles and stakeholder management at Woolworths and as head of engineering in a manufacturing firm in the USA. Tina has served on other listed boards previously.

Linda de Beer

Age: 50
Qualifications: Chartered Director (SA), Chartered Accountant (SA), MCOM Tax (Pretoria),
Professor (UJ)
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 30 November 2017
: 30 November 2017 - Audit committee
Board committee membership: Audit committee (chair)
Significant directorships: Aspen Holdings Ltd, Aspen Finance (Pty) Ltd, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Ltd, Tongaat Hulett Ltd
Number of non-significant directorships: 0

Skills and expertise: Finance, corporate governance, internal and external audit, IFRS, JSE Listings Requirements, IT governance, risk and strategy

Experience: Linda has 10 years’ experience in serving on the board of listed companies. She, until recently, chaired the JSE’s Financial Reporting Investigation Panel and was a member of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa. She still serves on the Issuers’ Regulatory Advisory Committee of the JSE and the Quality Control Assessment Committee of the Auditor General. She has recently been appointed as chair of the Public Interest Oversight Board, which oversees audit and ethics standard setting for auditors at an international level. She is a professor in practice at the University of Johannesburg.

Sizwe Mncwango

Age: 54
Qualifications: BSc (Civ Eng); MSc (Civ Eng); MBA
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 29 July 2010
Board committee membership: None
Significant directorships: Shell Downstream South Africa, Sekelo Oil Trading, Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa (STISA) Oil Trading, Thebe Unico, Thebe Mining Resources, Timrite
Number of non-significant directorships: 6

Skills and expertise: Business management, engineering, governance and strategy

Experience: Sizwe is currently the Group Chief Executive Officer of Thebe Investment Corporation, one of the leading BB-BEE investment holding companies that came into being shortly before South Africa’s formal political transition to democracy. Prior to that, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Thebe Energy & Resources since 01 April 2015, a role he assumed after serving for two years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Energy Fund. The CEF is a state-owned SA entity focusing on oil, gas, coal, renewable and alternative primary energy sources.

Sizwe has served on numerous boards the past 20 years and brings along with him extensive experience in energy and energy related investments acquired over the last 30 years.

Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe

Age: 59
Qualifications: Diploma in Teaching (Swaziland), B.Sc (Swaziland), M.Sc (Loughborough UK), SEP (Harvard USA), MCRP (IMD Switzerland)
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 1 June 2018 - Board
: 1 August 2018 - Remuneration committee and nominations committee
Board committee membership: Remuneration and nominations committee (Chair)
Significant directorships: Royal Bafokeng Platinum,
Old Mutual
Number of non-significant directorships: 8

Skills and expertise: Business management, chemistry, information systems, strategy

Experience: Thoko holds a BSc and Teaching Diploma from Swaziland and a master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from Loughborough University in the UK. She serves as an independent non-executive director on the boards of a number of JSE listed companies. In 2005 she was named finalist for IT Personality, winner of Top ICT Individual and winner of Top ICT Businesswoman in Africa. In 2007, she was named the Businesswoman of the year in the Corporate Category.

Willem (Wim) Plaizier

Age: 59
Qualifications: BSc, MBA
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 11 February 2019 - Board
Board committee membership: None
Significant other directorships: None

Skills and expertise: Business management, strategy, supply chain operations, chemicals & mining industry

Experience: Wim has over 35 years’ industry and strategic management consulting experience across predominantly the Chemicals, Energy, Oil & Gas, Agriculture, Pulp & Paper and Metals & Mining sectors. He also brings significant international experience to the board, with more than 13 years’ in Africa. Among other roles during his career, Wim most recently served as a Partner at A.T Kearney where he was responsible for, inter alia, the African region and at a global level strategy, business planning, productivity and operations. He retired in 2017 after 21 years within the group and served from September 2018 till December 2019 as interim COO of African Parks, a nature conservancy. He is currently and independent advisor, coach and interim manager.

Bernard Swanepoel

Age: 58
Qualifications: BSc Mining Engineering; BCom Hons
Designation: Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: 1 October 2019 - Board
: 23 September 2020 - Social, ethics and risk committee (Chair)
Board committee membership: Social, ethics and risk committee (Chair)
Significant other directorships: Impala Platinum Holdings Limited, Zimplats Holdings Limited

Skills and expertise: Engineering, finance, business management, strategy

Experience: He began his career with Gengold in 1983, subsequent to which he was appointed as General Manager of Beatrix Mines in 1993. After joining Randgold & Exploration Company Limited as Managing Director of the Harmony mine in 1995, Bernard was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited in 1997, a role he held for ten years before launching To The Point Growth Specialists, which operates in the mining and resources sectors, specialising in identifying opportunities, unlocking value and driving growth.

Executive directors and company secretary

Seelan Gobalsamy

Age: 44
Qualifications: Chartered Accountant (SA) AMP (Harvard)
Designation: Chief executive officer
Date of appointment:: 10 September 2018 - Board
Board committee membership: None
Significant directorships: Bidvest Life Limited
Number of non-significant directorships: 2

Skills and expertise: Finance, business management, strategy, mergers and acquisitions.

Experience: He is an accomplished, internationally experienced business leader, from the financial services sector. He has assumed senior leadership roles across Emerging Markets for close to 20 years including key leadership roles as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director. He served as Chief Executive of Emerging Markets for Liberty Holdings and previously the Group Chief Executive of STANLIB Group.

Prior to this he was Managing Director of Old Mutual Corporate.

Stephan Serfontein

Age: 43
Qualifications: Chartered Accountant (SA)
Designation: Group financial director
Date of appointment:: 1 March 2020 - Board
Board committee membership: None
Significant directorships: None
Number of non-significant directorships: None

Skills and expertise: Finance, business management, strategy.

Experience: He has been with Omnia Group for 8 years and successfully served as interim Financial Director since August 2019. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting and has 17 years of international finance experience in the manufacturing, chemicals, mining and agriculture industries. He has served on several boards, both locally and internationally, in an executive and non-executive capacity.

Michelle Nana

Age: 52
Qualifications: FCIS, BA (Industrial Psychology and Sociology), Certified Director of the Institute of Directors South Africa
Title: Group Company Secretary
Date of appointment: 1 July 2018

Experience: 25 years in Company Secretarial and Corporate Governance, in both JSE-listed and unlisted companies. Sectors include telecommunications and construction.

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