The board of State-owned power utility Eskom has appointed Jan Oberholzer COO.
The board, which was appointed in January, was mandated to resolve and take decisions to address the immediate challenges facing Eskom. Key to this mandate was to bring stability to the executive leadership structures of Eskom through, besides others, prioritising the appointment of a permanent CEO and CFO.
In the process of identifying suitable candidates, the board also assessed the appropriateness of the current functional structure, given the enormity of the current operational and financial challenges faced by Eskom.
As a result, it concluded that the size, functional diversity and complexity of Eskom warrants a three-person executive team comprising a CEO, a CFO and a COO.
Oberholzer has 38 years of working experience, of which 24 were at Eskom where he held various positions, including that of COO of the distribution division.
Most recently, he successfully led the improvement of a number of hydropower plants in Zambia.
“Jan brings a wealth of operational experience in the energy sector, as well as valuable institutional memory, which I am confident will stand him in good stead to successfully reform our operations and set them up for sustainable success,” comments Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe.
The board, meanwhile, says it is committed to finding the most suitable candidate for the CFO position in the coming weeks, as well as undertaking a detailed and thorough review of the utility’s structure.