Thomas Garner

27th June 2014

  

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Full Name: Thomas Garner

Position: CEO of Cennergi, since 2012

Main Activity of the Company: Developing, owning and operating cleaner energy projects in Africa

Date and Place of Birth: February 19, 1968, Pretoria

Education: Matric, Affies, Pretoria, 1985; mechanical engineering degree, University of Pretoria, 1992; MBA, University of Stellenbosch Business School, 2003

First Job: Engineer in training at the Iscor Tshikondeni mine, an underground coking coal mine in Limpopo

Size of First Pay Packet: I cannot remember but I think it was around R8 000

First Job with Present Group: Engineer in training at the Tshikondeni mine. Iscor unbundled to become ArcelorMittal South Africa and Kumba Resources. Kumba Resources unbundled into Kumba Iron Ore and Exxaro by doing a deal with Eyesizwe. Cennergi was formed out of Exxaro

Career History Prior To Current Position: From 1993 to 1995, I was an engineer in training. In 1996, I was a planning and development engineer (responsible for capital expenditure, planning and project execution as well as maintenance planning and oversight). During the period 1998 to 2000, I was an assistant resident engineer

Value of Assets under Your Control: At this stage, we are executing two projects with an asset value of around R7.5-billion

Number of People under Your Leadership: 55

Management Style: I believe in creating a strong team around me for whom I provide the vision, with the team members being empowered to execute their responsibilities in an environment where they are valued in a high-performance culture and where things need to be done right the first time

Personal Best Achievement: Positively impacting on the lives of many family and friends around me

Professional Best Achievement: Turning Cennergi from an idea into an operating company

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: Venture capitalist Laurie Olivier, who is a good friend and has impacted on my personal and professional development. He has been like a personal mentor. He taught me a lot about hard work, care for people and a focus on enjoying life

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Ernst Venter – he is a visionary leader who gave me the space to perform, with Kumba and Exxaro. He’s currently the chairperson of Cennergi

Person You Would Most Like To Meet: Meeting with Nelson Mandela and Mahtma Gandhi together would probably be first prize

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Hendrik van der Bijl and Steve Jobs

Philosophy of Life: Positively impacting on the people around me while enjoying life. So many people forget to do that

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Becoming the founding CEO of Cennergi

Biggest Ever Disappointment: We had a fall-of-ground mining accident at Tshikondeni in 1996 where ten people died – that was traumatic

Hope for the Future: My hope is to help create a South Africa where we eradicate inequalities and poverty and create a great future for all our people

Favourite Reading: I love reading history and biographies

Favourite TV Programme: News (to my wife’s dismay)

Favourite Food/Drink: Steak – medium-rare – and white wine with ice

Favourite Music: Afrikaans folk music

Favourite Sport: Definitely rugby

Favourite Website: None

Hobbies: I love the outdoors

Car: Mercedez-Benz GL350 CDI

Pets: Five cats (Lucy, Whisper, Mowgli, Bibble and Isabella)

Miscellaneous Dislikes: I dislike people who cannot create solutions and only see problems

Favourite Other South African Company: Exxaro and Naspers

Favourite Foreign Company: Apple

Married: To Faye Julia Wood, since February 22, 2003

Children: Victoria 8 and Matthew

Clubs: I am not a club person

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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