South African financial services group Alexander Forbes on Wednesday announced the appointment of veteran business executive Nonkululeko Nyembezi as the new independent nonexecutive chairperson with effect from January 1, 2018.
Nyembezi will become the first woman to chair the board in the company’s 82-year existence. She will succeed Sello Moloko whose extended term ended on Tuesday.
This comes after former chief executive and senior partner at audit firm KPMG Moses Kgosana failed to become the group’s chairperson after he resigned as nonexecutive director following his alleged role in the scandal of R30-million in public money being used to pay for a Gupta family wedding.
Nyembezi joins the company at a time of strategic and business transformation in the implementation of its Ambition 2022 growth strategy to create a globally distinctive pan-African financial services leader.
She has held executive and nonexecutive corporate positions in a career spanning over 30 years across financial services, mining, information technology and the telecommunications sectors.
Nyembezi is presently the independent nonexecutive chairperson of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and a nonexecutive director of Old Mutual. She is also chief executive of Ichor Coal, an international mining company operating in the thermal coal industry in South Africa.
Nyembezi said she was honoured to have been appointed to chair the board of Alexander Forbes. Moloko said Alexander Forbes was privileged to have such a highly regarded professional with extensive business and leadership experience as Nyembezi to chair the company’s board.
Alexander Forbes said that Mark Collier, currently the lead independent director, chairperson of the remuneration and nominations committees, and a member of the audit committee, will assume the role of the interim nonexecutive chairperson from 1 November to 31 December 2017.