CEO Nyembezi-Heita becomes First Woman to Chair Alexander Forbes Board

Former ArcelorMittal South Africa CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita was named by Alexander Forbes on Wednesday as is new chairperson from January 1.

According to her Wikipedia page, she was ranked the 97th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2012.


“She becomes the first woman to chair the board in the company’s 82 years of existence,” Alexander Forbes said in its statement.
The insurance group originally intended to have former KPMG SA CEO Moses Kgosana succeed incumbent chairperson Sello Moloko on August 31. The insurance group announced on July 3 that Kgosana had opted not to take the role because of his entanglement in the Gupta-family scandal.

 

Old Mutual issued a statement on Wednesday announcing Nyembezi-Heita would no longer serve on its board.

“We are very grateful for Nku’s valuable contributions to the board and to the wider Old Mutual Group over the last seven years and we wish her well for the future,” Old Mutual chairperson Patrick O’Sullivan said in the statement.
Nyembezi-Heita is also the chairperson of JSE Limited, the company that operates the Johannesburg bourse, and CEO of Dutch trading company Ichor Coal.
Alexander Forbes does not appear to see these roles as conflicts on interest, only saying she “will relinquish her board memberships of Old Mutual plc and Old Mutual Group Holdings prior to joining Alexander Forbes”.

Nyembezi-Heita “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 anchored in five core business pillars,” Alexander Forbes said in its statement.

Nyembezi-Heita’s appointment on Wednesday is the latest in a long list of recent management shake-ups at Alexander Forbes.
It recently headhunted South African Reserve Bank chief financial officer Naidene Ford-Hoon as its replacement for Deon Viljoen, who resigned in February. Bruce Bydawell was acting chief financial officer until Ford-Hoon’s appointment.
It also headhunted the Marsh & McLennan Companies New York-based human resources transformation global change leader, Christian Schaub, for its human resources officer, and former Absa human resources officer Thabo Mashaba for the newly created role of group chief empowerment and transformation officer