Introducing this year’s CFO Awards nominees

On 14 May the 2020 winners of the prestigious CFO Awards will be announced at the annual “Oscars of the finance profession”. The winners will be selected from South Africa’s leading finance professionals. Here are the nominees for this year’s top accolade in the finance profession.

Angela started her career at Arthur Anderson, but wanted to get into financial services so she moved to FNB, where she started in home loans and worked her way through various roles, including CFO for the Commercial Bank for four years, and balance sheet management. She then moved to Absa, where she became CFO of the Corporate Bank and gained international exposure through Barclays. She moved to Liberty as the CFO of Libfin for a short time before being approached for her current role as group FD of Sasfin. She is a CA(SA) and has a master’s degree in financial services with over 15 years of financial experience.

Ashley joined the University of Cape Town (UCT) in September 2013 in the interim capacity of finance executive. In 2015 he was selected as the finance director designate and assumed the official executive finance director position on 1 January 2016, making him the first black FD of UCT since its establishment in 1918. He also serves as a member of the finance, risk, joint venture, remuneration, and intellectual property advisory committees, and is responsible for managing the university’s risk, procurement and commercial development portfolios. In 2011 he founded Ashley Francis Consulting. Prior to this, he was the owner and MD at Biotech Fuels, a chief financial executive at the V&A Waterfront, financial manager at Irvin & Johnson, and management accountant of fish processing at Sea Harvest Corporation. He is a qualified CA(SA) with a CTA and a bachelor's in accounting science degree from the University of South Africa.

Bernardt is the FD and an executive director of Curro Holdings. He is a qualified CA(SA) and a CFA charterholder. He completed his articles and remained as manager in the financial services division of PwC until 2005. After that, Bernardt joined Finweek as writer and head of companies and markets. Bernardt joined the PSG Group during 2007 where he has been part of the executive team at Paladin. He has been a non-executive director on the boards of various PSG Groups and Paladin investment companies. Bernardt joined the Curro Board during 2009 as a non-executive director and became CFO during 2011.

Bryan Groome was appointed financial director and executive director of Verimark in March 2016, making him the youngest director (CFO) of a listed company. He completed his articles at Deloitte in Durban. He worked in San Jose, USA, on contract with Deloitte as an audit senior. He then worked as the group financial manager for Car City Holdings, the holding company of Car Service City, Automate and Motorlube. He has a post-graduate diploma in accounting from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is also a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Cheryl-Jane Kujenga, known as CJ, has been the CFO and executive director of Adcorp Holdings since 1 July 2017. Cheryl-Jane served as acting COO of Adcorp Holdings from 1 August 2017 until 2 November 2017. She has 20 years' commercial experience, including nine years as a partner at EY. At EY, she worked in an advisory capacity to various industries including technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, infrastructure, retail, healthcare and financial services, and also served on the Accounting Standards Board (South Africa) for six years. She has an MBA from the University of Cape Town and a B.Compt Honours from UNISA.

Dion Mhlaba holds a B.Com Accounting Degree and Honours from UJ. He completed his auditing articles with KPMG in 2010, where he qualified as a CA and RA. While with KPMG, Dion worked with Nedbank, IDC and DBSA. From 2011 to 2013, he held advisory roles with Afripalm Resources, a company with mining and financial services interests and Sakhumnotho Holdings with exposure to a variety of projects, including mining, financial services and engineering. In 2013, he worked in financial support at Thebe Investments in a role which entailed streamlining of reports, analysing of financial data, budgeting, performance and board reports. In 2017, he was appointed as the CFO for RH Bophelo. Dion also holds a full-time senior lecturing post with UJ.

Dorette has been the CFO and executive director of Adcock Ingram Holdings since 23 February 2016. She joined the company in August 2007 as the group financial executive. From 11 November 2015 Dorette served as acting CFO until her permanent appointment. Prior to this, she served as financial director at Quintiles South Africa and as financial manager in FMCG environment in Namibia. She also serves as a member of the Financial Reporting Investigation Panel of the JSE. Dorette is a qualified CA(SA) with a master's degree in commerce (taxation).

Elisa completed her articles with PwC in 2005. She became an audit supervisor for PwC in 2006 and was seconded to the company’s London offices in 2007. Later in 2007 she was appointed as a divisional accountant for Wilson Bayly Holmes Ovcon before joining Foskor as a finance manager in 2009. Between 2013 and 2016, Elisa served as a senior consultant for various companies and initiatives, including the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development and the South African Forestry Company. She also served as a financial advisor for the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme. Prior to joining the Clinix Health Group in 2016 as CFO, Elisa served as the acting CFO of Daybreak. She has a B.Com Honours degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Euan McNeil has been the chief financial officer of the Flight Centre Travel Group since September 2018. Before joining Flight Centre in 2013, he spent more than five years at PwC, first as an articled clerk based in Sunninghill, and later as an assistant manager and manager of PwC’s Sunninghill CIPS Assurance Division. During this time he also spent six months working in assurance for their San Jose office in California, USA. He graduated Cum Laude from the University of Johannesburg and holds a B.Com degree with Honours in Accounting.

Innocent is a qualified CA(SA) with experience in various finance and accounting roles at middle and senior levels. He joined the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations in 2013 as the director of finance and procurement and was promoted to CFO in 2018. Prior to this, he served as the senior manager of finance and supply chain at Umalusi for four years. He has also served in various accountant and analyst roles with NMB Technologies, Silvercote Investments, Reserve Bank and Civil Aviation Authority respectively. Innocent has an MBA, advanced diploma in business and accounting, B.Com degree with Honours in Accounting and a project management certificate.

Jason Quinn was appointed financial director of Absa in September 2016. He joined the board and executive committee in September 2016. He is the chairman of the models committee and a member of the group risk and capital management, credit concentration risk, information technology and separation oversight committees. Before joining the Group, he was a partner at EY. Jason joined the Group in 2008 as the financial controller and was appointed as the head of finance in 2014 after holding several senior finance positions. Jason is a director of Absa Financial Services, and Woolworths Financial Services and is an employer-appointed trustee of the Absa Pension Fund. He holds a B.Com Honours degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is a CA(SA).

Keith Gibson joined Netcare in July 2006 as financial manager of the company’s international operations. He was appointed as acting CFO on 1 August 2011, and as executive director and group CFO on 10 November 2011. Prior to joining Netcare, he held senior financial positions with PPC Cement and Barloworld. Keith also chairs the finance and investment committee and working capital committee. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy and a Bachelor of Commerce. Keith is also a qualified CA(SA).

Louraine is a qualified chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience at executive management level aligning strategy, finance, ICT and other resources. She joined the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2013 and served as its COO from 2015 to 2016. She has previously served as the CFO and COO of Christel House SA and the Free State Department of Education respectively. She has also served as a director of the School for Entrepreneurship and Business Development at the Central University of Technology in the Free State, as well as the head of its accounting department. Louraine's career started off as an auditing manager at PwC. She has a B.Compt honours degree in auditing and accounting from the University of the Free State.

Mark Godfrey is a qualified CA(SA) with a B.Com and CTA from the Nelson Mandela University. He served his articles with EY and was then seconded to the Department of Finance to serve his military service. At the conclusion of that period, he was offered a permanent appointment and served a further three years handling tax investigations. Mark was approached by the Spar Group, which was looking for a financial manager for the newly opened distribution centre in Port Elizabeth. Mark spent more than eight years with that division before he accepted a transfer to the North Rand distribution centre situated in Midrand as financial director. In October 2010, he was appointed as group financial director.

Narriman is the finance executive at the V&A Waterfront. She also serves on the group board of directors, property committee and remuneration committee. Her corporate career spans 20 years and includes experience in real estate, financial services, information technology, human resources, internal audit, tax structuring and driving BEE, corporate responsibility and good corporate governance. Before joining the Waterfront, Narriman worked at EY, ultimately as an audit supervisor, exposed to organisations including NSFAS, LA Company and other medium-sized commercial businesses. She is a chartered accountant and registered auditor, a member of the South African Property Association and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Nishlan is an accomplished finance professional who has been a loyal servant of the Investec group since joining them in 2000. A CA(SA), Nishlan made his way to the CFO role by working up through the ranks, serving initially as the group’s head of international finance before assuming the mantle of group CFO and becoming an executive director in 2016.

Norman Basthdaw was appointed CFO of Sun International in March 2017. Prior to his appointment as CFO of Sun International, he was the group executive of mergers and acquisitions at Sun International. He is a qualified CA(SA) by profession and holds a B.Compt (Hons), and a CTA, as well as an M.Com and a Higher Diploma in Company Law. He worked in senior finance positions at, among others, Absa, Gensec Bank, a subsidiary of Sanlam, Genbel Securities and Allied Electronics Corporation. Norman has also been instrumental in Sun International’s expansion into Latin America.

Rhett is a qualified CA(SA) with a postgraduate diploma in accounting from the University of Cape Town and a B.Com degree in commerce from the University of Stellenbosch. He started his career as an articled clerk at Deloitte in 2009 and served at Deloitte New York from 2011 to 2012. He joined King Price Insurance in 2012 as a general manager of finance and was promoted to CFO in 2014.

Riaan joined Exxaro in 2006 as the general manager of corporate finance and treasury. He was appointed as director of finance on 1 July 2016 and is also a director of several Exxaro subsidiary companies and joint ventures, as well as a trustee and investment committee member of the Exxaro Pension and Provident Funds. Before joining Exxaro, Riaan served as the manager of corporate funding at Iscor from 1997 to 2001. He was appointed as the general manager of corporate finance and treasury at Kumba Resources in 2001. Riaan served his articles at PwC from 1993 to 1996. He has completed advanced and associate programmes in treasury management, and has an advanced diploma in taxation and advanced management programme (Insead), as well as a certificate in theory of accounting. Riaan is also a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Risto has been serving as the group finance director of Momentum Metropolitan Holdings since 8 January 2018. He joined the group in August 2016 to head up investor relations and business performance management. In 2017, Risto was appointed as the company’s CFO. Before joining Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, Risto served as an executive and head of financial sector research at Standard Bank. He has also served as an insurance analyst and director at the Deutsche Bank, a derivative specialist at Cadiz Asset Management, and a product development manager at Norwich Life respectively. Moreover, Risto is a CFA charterholder and a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B.Sc in economics and statistics.

After completing her articles of clerkship, Rivasha joined Meadow Feeds in June 2004 as management accountant. She then fulfilled various senior finance positions at Nampak and Tega Industries. During 2016 she was appointed as financial director at DivFood, a division of Nampak. She joined Afgri in May 2017 as CFO looking after grain management, equipment, retail, Unigro and Harvest Time. These companies operate in South Africa and African countries. In February 2018 she was appointed as group CFO at Afgri Group Holdings.

Ted is a finance and strategy executive with almost 20 years of developing and emerging market experience across leading multinational corporations. In his role as CFO for PepsiCo Sub-Sahara Africa, he leads finance and control, strategy and business development, revenue management and IT. Prior to being appointed as CFO, he was the planning and strategy director at PepsiCo. Before joining PepsiCo, Ted served as the director of business development at Kraft Foods. He has also served as a group procurement controller, financial analyst and audit supervisor at Mondi Packaging, Anglo American and KPMG respectively. Ted is a qualified chartered accountant with a B.Com degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Tsholofelo is a qualified chartered accountant. She joined Telkom in July 2016 as deputy group CFO. She then moved to the position of chief risk and compliance. In 2018 she was appointed as group chief financial officer. Before joining Telkom, Tsholofelo was employed as a finance director of Eskom Holdings and an executive director of the company’s main board until June 2015. She joined Eskom in July 2005, after a short career journey with FNB – Personal Banking Segment as CFO in the consumer segment unit. Before joining FNB, Tsholofelo gained extensive experience in the banking industry as an audit manager at Absa Group. She also worked for the Liberty Group as an assistant audit manager and at IBM as an auditor. She served her audit and accounting articles at PwC.

Tsundzukani Mhlanga is a qualified chartered accountant (SA) with an MBA from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. She completed her financial management articles (TOPP) at Edcon Holdings and in 2009 joined Pembani Coal Carolina Propriety, where she held the position of finance and procurement manager. Tsundzukani is currently the executive director of group finance and administration at ItalTile. Prior to joining ItalTile in 2017 as its FD, she served as an independent consultant, as well as the financial director at Ascension Properties. Before that, Tsundzukani was acting CFO of Alexkor SOC. She served on various board subcommittees and oversaw the finance, procurement and risk management functions of Alexkor, as well as its joint venture operations.

Shabeer has been the CFO of the Department of Trade and Industry since 2013, where he achieved the first-ever and subsequent clean audits for the department. For his work at the department, Shabeer has been nominated for the 2014 and 2015 CFO Awards. Prior to joining the Department of Trade and Industry, Shabeer served as the senior manager at the Office of the Auditor-General for nine years. He started his career as an articled clerk at Fazel and Associates in 2002. He has a bachelor of accounting science honours degree from the University of South Africa and a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand.

Xolani is a seasoned finance executive having worked in mining and logistics industries for over 15 years. He is a South African qualified CA with integrity and the ability to translate strategic themes into actionable strategic and business plans. He has worked in different geographies and complex finance projects including SAP rollouts, HFM implementations, migration from UK GAAP to IFRS, implementation of shared services, driving cost-saving initiatives and greenfield coal mine implementation.