JSE-listed Raubex Group has appointed Felicia Msiza, currently Governance, Risk And Compliance executive director, as group CEO, effective August 1.

She will succeed Rudolf Fourie, who will be stepping down after 25 years at Raubex, having served the last 12 years as group CEO. He will remain with Raubex in the new role of nonexecutive deputy chairperson with a focus on business strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

As part of the succession process and, owing to the increasing scale and complexity of the business, the board says it has taken the decision to create an executive COO position which will be assumed by Dirk Lourens, the current MD of Raubex’s Infrastructure division.

Fourie joined Raubex in 1997 as MD of the then newly formed Roadmac Surfacing, before being appointed as Raubex CEO in March 2010.

Under his leadership, Raubex successfully diversified and grew into one of South Africa’s leading infrastructure development and construction materials supply groups with operations across Africa and Western Australia, the company highlights.

At the beginning of this year, he indicated that he was considering retiring at some point for personal and health reasons, but also to enable an orderly succession process to take the company forward on its next growth phase.

Msiza joined Raubex in February 2011 as an independent nonexecutive director and was subsequently appointed executive director in March 2017.

Her extensive knowledge and experience in the field of governance, auditing and risk management have been instrumental in enabling Raubex to strengthen its structures and processes in line with its growth, the company notes.

Msiza says she is excited about the opportunities ahead in terms of increasing tender activity, bedding down strategic partnerships and driving revenue streams across new growth markets in line with the company’s strategy.

Lourens joined Raubex in 2012 when the Infrastructure division was established and was appointed MD of the division in May 2017.

With 29 years’ experience in the construction industry, he played a leading role in growing the division in support of Raubex’s diversification outside of the road construction sector, including in renewable energy, rail, telecommunication, as well as housing and commercial building refurbishment and construction, the company says.