The Masisizane board has a mix of representatives from Old Mutual plc, Old Mutual (South Africa), our empowerment partners (WIPHOLD and Brimstone) to two external representatives, Iraj Abedian and Gareth Ackerman, all of whom oversee the initiatives.
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Marshall Rapiya
Chairman
Marshall obtained a Bachelor of Administration (Economic Sciences) Degree from UNISA.more info
He joined Old Mutual Group Schemes in 1977 as an Advisor in Umtata. In 1987 he was appointed Area Manager, then quickly moved through the ranks as Regional Manager Border and Transkei then Provincial Manager for the Eastern Cape in 1990.
In 1995 he became Divisional Manager in charge of the Eastern and Western Cape as well as the National Scheme Development Team.
Two years later he was given the responsibility of running the national sales force and marketing division and in 2000 Marshal was appointed General Manager – Group Schemes Sales and Marketing. In February 2005 he assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer Group Schemes.
Following Paul Hanratty's appointment as Managing Director, Marshall was appointed as Managing Director, Retail (Mass Market).
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Crispin Sonn
Managing Director: Mass Foundation Cluster
Crispin was appointed Managing Director: Mass Foundation Cluster in April 2011. Prior to this, he held the position of Director: Corporate Affairs; Marketing and Communications (between November 2008 and March 2010), and has served on the the India board of New Markets since March 2010.more info
Besides his commitments at Old Mutual, he is also a member of the council of the University of Cape Town, on the board of advisers of the Graduate School of Business at UCT and Chairperson of Feedback, a company that distributes around a million tons of food per year to the poorer communities in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
Crispin graduated from UCT in 1990 with a BA degree in Social Sciences and Humanities and his work experience spans both the entrepreneurial and corporate worlds.
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Gloria Serobe
Gloria Serobe is a founding member of WIPHOLD and Chief Executive Officer of Wipcapital. more info
A recognised leader in transforming the profile of corporate South Africa, Gloria has received numerous recognition awards. These include the Impumelelo Top 300 Award for "Contribution to Transformation, Job Creation, the Economy and as a BEE Role Model" and the Business Woman of the Year Award in 2005.
Gloria has been heavily involved with Transnet's retirement benefits and served as Chair of its Second Defined Benefit Fund and the Pension Fund Investment Committee.
She also has extensive experience at Director level and past directorships include: Chair of Metropolitan Group, Chair of the Life Offices Association, MTN, M-Cell and the Financial Markets Advisory Board.
Gloria currently sits on the Boards of Old Mutual, Nedbank, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), Export Credit Insurance Corporation and the Financial Sector Charter Council.
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Fred Robertson
Fred Robertson is deputy executive chairman and founder of Brimstone Investment Corp, one of the largest black empowerment groups listed on the JSE. The group was formed in 1995 and now commands interests in the financial, industrial and health sectors.more info
Fred started out as a teacher and proceeded to insurance broking, which launched him into the centre of the financial services industry. He is chairman of House of Monatic and Lion of Africa Life Assurance.
He is also a founder of Commlife Holdings. He sits on the boards of Remgro, Sea Harvest, Lenco Holdings and Lobedu Leo Burnett. He is a founding trustee of the Business Trust.
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Rojie Kisten
Rojie Kisten holds an Honours Degree in Business Administration from the University of Durban Westville. She also received the Top Student Award at the University of Stellenbosch Business School for the Management Development Programme (MDP).more info
Rojie spent 11 years in various businesses in Old Mutual South Africa and Nedbank, including life assurance, retail and commercial property and asset manager before assuming her current role.
She is currently the General Manager of Corporate Affairs and in her personal capacity is the President of ABSIP (Western Cape).
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Gareth Ackerman
Gareth Ackerman qualified from the university of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Social Sciences Degree. He further obtained a CMS Diploma from the University of Oxford.more info
He acted as manager of store systems and labour scheduling for Pantry Pride Supermarkets in the US before becoming operations manager of Pick ‘n Pay Australia in 1984-1986.
From 1986-1990 he became general manager of Pick ‘n Pay retailers in Johannesburg.
Gareth is currently the director of Pick ‘n Pay Stores Ltd and Pick ‘n Pay Holdings Ltd.
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Simpiwe Somdyala
A Masters of Business Administration graduate from the University of KwaZulu Natala more info
Simpiwe brings a wealth of experience earned from his 17 years in economic development, business support, development finance, project management and project facilitation roles.
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Peter Golesworthy
Peter graduated from Exeter University and the UK and qualified as a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.
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He spent 10 years with Anglo American Corporation (South Africa) in a corporate finance role, before joining Old Mutual in 1997. He was appointed Finance Director of Old Mutual South Africa in 2000, a position he held until he left to pursue his own interests in August 2007.
He currently serves on a number of investment committees in the Old Mutual South Africa group (credit, mezzanine debt and alternative assets) and is a director of a number of private companies. He is a director of Life Healthcare Group Holdings, which he joined on the listing of the company in June 2010 and is chairman of the Audit Committee. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and a participant in its Audit Committee Forum Working Group.