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Directorate

 

 
 
DR WP (BILL) VENTER
Date of birth:
29 July 1934 (75)
Qualifications:
DPhil (Bus Man) (UJ); MPhil (Bus Man) (UJ – cum laude); MBA (Wales); DCom (hc) (UP, UFS and UPE); DSc (Eng) (hc) (Natal); DEng (hc) (Wits); CEng (UK)
  A UK chartered engineer and founder of Altron, through Allied Electric in 1965 and recipient of the Order of Meritorious Service (Gold), as awarded by the State President of South Africa for his significant contribution to South Africa’s electronics industry.
Titles:
 Non-executive chairman of Altron, Bytes and Powertech
   Non-executive director of Altech, Bytes, Bytes UK and Powertech, former chairman of the CSIR, and past director of AMIC Limited and Nedcor Bank Limited
   Former member of the State President’s Economic Advisory Board
   Member of the Altron nomination committee and remuneration committee
Experience: Some 45 years devoted to entrepreneurial endeavours and initiatives in the electronics, telecommunications and power electrical industries, both in South Africa and offshore, firstly as design engineer then marketing manager at STC (SA) and thereafter chief executive and latterly as non-executive chairman of the Altron group.

Dr Venter has played an important role in developing the South African electronics and electrical industry into the key component of the national economy that it is today.

Awarded the Sunday Times Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, and the Minister’s Technology Top 100 Lifetime Achiever Award in 2009, in recognition of his significant contribution to technology development in South Africa.

Joined the Altron board in 1980.

 

 
 
 
 
RE (ROBERT) VENTER
Date of birth:
7 May 1960 (50)
Qualifications:
BSc (Econ) (UCLA); MBA (UCLA) Dean’s List
Titles:
 Chief executive of Altron
   Non-executive director of Altech, Bytes and Powertech and various other group companies
   Chairman of the Altron executive committee
   Member of the Altron risk management committee
Experience: Four years’ merchant banking experience in the United States, the latter part as Vice-President, Bear Stearns and Co. Inc (1987 to1990).

20 years’ experience in senior management positions in the Altron group (1990 to current), including chief executive officer of Aberdare Cables (1993 to 1996), chief executive officer of Powertech (1996 to 2001) before joining Altron as chief executive (2001 to current).
 

Joined the Altron board in 1997.
 
 
 
 
NJ (NORMAN) ADAMI
Date of birth:
12 August 1954 (55)
Qualifications:
BBusSci (Hons) (UCT); MBA (Wits)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
   Member of the Altron audit committee
   Member of the Altron remuneration committee
Experience: Norman is a South African-based senior executive with more than 15 years’ experience as a chief executive officer/managing director of leading consumer product operations in the United States of America, South Africa, Africa and Latin America.

Norman’s experience as a chief executive officer/managing director includes three key assignments:
  • Managing director, South African Breweries (1994 to 2003, Johannesburg)
  • President and chief executive officer, Miller Brewing Company (2003 to 2006, Milwaukee)
  • President and chief executive officer, SAB Miller Americas (2006 to 2007)

He is currently the chairman and managing director of SAB Limited in South Africa, a position which he assumed on 10 October 2008. Previous board memberships include, among others, ABI (SA), SAB Limited, SAB Plc (London), Miller Brewing Co, SAB Miller Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Panama)/SAB Miller South America (Columbia, Peru, Ecuador).

Joined the Altron board in 2008.
 
 

 
MC (MYRON) BERZACK
Date of birth:
30 May 1949 (61)
Titles:
 Non-executive director of Altron
   Member of the Altron nomination committee and remuneration committee
Experience: 40 years’ experience in the cable manufacturing industry and 18 years’ experience in the electrical distribution industry. Myron is the chairman of Voltex Holdings, the chief executive of Bid Industrial & Commercial Products, as well as an executive director of the Bidvest Group Limited and numerous subsidiaries thereof. He is also a non-executive director of Amalgamated Appliance Holdings Limited.

Joined the Altron board in 1998.

 
 

 
N (NORBERT) CLAUSSEN
Date of birth:
10 December 1960 (49)
Qualifications:
BEng (Stellenbosch); MEng (UP); MBA (UCT); PrEng (ECSA)
Titles:
 Executive director of Altron
   Chief executive officer of Powertech
   Director of Powertech Transformers, Aberdare Cables, Powertech Industries and Powertech SA
   Member of the Altron executive committee and risk management committee
Experience: Joined the Altron group in 1996 as the chief executive officer of Willard Batteries which expanded over five years to become the Powertech Battery Group, comprising Willard Batteries, Dynamic Batteries, SABAT Batteries and Battery Technologies.
 

In March 2001, was appointed chief executive officer of Powertech. Since 1989, he has been a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Joined the Altron board in 2005.
 
 
 

 
PMO (PETER) CURLE
Date of birth:
19 May 1946 (64)
Qualifications:
MA (Oxon)
Titles:
 Executive director of Altron
   Executive director of Altech: Corporate Finance
   Member of the Altron executive committee
Experience: 40 years in merchant banking/corporate finance activities in South Africa and internationally.

Rejoined the Altron group in 1997, having previously served as an executive director from 1983 to 1986.
 
 

 
MJ (MIKE) LEEMING
Date of birth:
26 October 1943 (66)
Qualifications:
BCom (Rhodes); MCom (Wits); FIBSA, FCMA; AMP (Harvard)
Titles:
 Lead independent non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of the Altron risk management committee
   Member of the Altron audit committee and nomination committee
Experience: Retired banker and a director of AECI Limited, Imperial Holdings Limited, Real Africa Holdings Limited and Woolworths Holdings Limited.

Joined the Altron board in 2002.

 
 

 
DR PM (PENUELL) MADUNA
Date of birth:
29 December 1952 (57)
Qualifications:
Bluris (Unisa); LLB (Zimbabwe); LLM (Wits); HDip Tax Law (Wits); LLD (Unisa)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of the Altron nomination committee
Experience: Former member of the ANC’s Constitutional Committee and National Executive Committee, former Deputy Minister of the Department of Home Affairs (1994 to 1996) and former Minister of the Departments of Minerals and Energy (1996 to 1999) and Justice and Constitutional Development (1999 to 2004).

Attorney, notary and conveyancer. Visiting Scholar of Constitutional Law at Columbia University Law School (New York).

Currently an active partner at Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys as well as a member of the executive committee at Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys and a senior special advisor of Sasol Limited. He is also the deputy chairman of Sasol Oil (Pty) Limited.
 

Joined the Altron board in 2004.
 
 

 
DNM (DAWN) MOKHOBO
Date of birth:
30 October 1948 (61)
Qualifications:
BA (SocSci), UNIN; Programme in Strategic Transformation, Graduate School of Business (Stellenbosch)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
Experience: Dawn is one of South Africa’s leading managers and businesswomen, with a highly successful and pioneering career spanning the public, private and parastatal sectors. Her talents and accomplishments were recognised in particular by her appointment as the first black woman to the management board of Eskom, as executive director in charge of growth and development.

Prior to this, Dawn worked as a senior manager and senior general manager (human resources) for Eskom and as senior divisional health education manager for the Anglo American Corporation.

Dawn’s talents and achievements have been widely recognised and acclaimed both locally and offshore. In 1993, she received the prestigious South African Businesswoman of the Year award. In 1994, she was honoured with an invitation to serve as one of the independent electoral commissioners who supervised the country’s first democratic elections. In 1995, she was invited by the Minister of Safety and Security to serve as chairman of the high-powered promotions committee for the South African Police Service. In 1996, Dawn was nominated as the chairman of UN Special Committee of Experts appointed to address the global issue of women and senior economic decision-making.

Her board memberships include Engen Limited, Massmart Holdings Limited, Sabvest Limited, Wesizwe Platinum Limited and Partnership Investments (Pty) Limited.

Joined the Altron board in 2008.
 
 

 
BJM (BARBARA) MASEKELA
Date of birth:
18 July 1941 (68)
Qualifications:
BA (cum laude) (Ohio University)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of the Altron nomination committee
Experience: Lectured at Rutgers University USA 1972 to 1982 as Assistant Professor of English literature. Spent most of her life as a political activist working with the ANC Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York and as Secretary for Arts and Culture in Zambia. She was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC while serving as Nelson Mandela’s Chief of Staff until 1994.

In 1995, Barbara was appointed as Ambassador to France and UNESCO. She subsequently joined the private sector and became executive director for corporate communications and a member of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Board.

In 2003, President Mbeki appointed her Ambassador to the United States of America. Barbara continues to serve as a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and is a board member of the MTN Foundation South Africa and the SABC.

Recently appointed as chairman of the Remuneration Panel, established by the Minister of Public Enterprises, to make recommendations for a framework for a rational and consistent remuneration model that protects the interests of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), employees of SOEs, the state and the state’s national assets.

Previous board memberships include the Standard Bank of South Africa and the International Marketing Council.

Joined the Altron board in 2008.
 
 

 
JRD (JACOB) MODISE
Date of birth:
9 September 1966 (43)
Qualifications:
BCom (Wits); BAcc (Wits); CA(SA); MBA (Wits); AMP (Samford); AMP (Harvard)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of the Altron remuneration committee
   Member of the Altron audit committee
Experience: Currently chief executive officer of the Road Accident Fund and executive chairman of Batsomi Investment Holdings (Pty) Limited. Past chief operating officer of Johnnic Holdings Limited. Prior to that he held various senior financial executive positions at Eskom, Teljoy and JCI. Qualified as a chartered accountant while serving his articles at Deloitte & Touche.

Major directorships include Eskom Holdings Limited, Blue IQ Holdings (Pty) Limited and ARB Electrical Wholesalers (Pty) Limited. Serves as a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and Association of Black Accountants of South Africa.

Previous board memberships include MTN, M-Net, Multichoice, The Premier Group and Tsogo Casino.

Joined the Altron board in 2003.

 

 
 

 
PD (DAVID) REDSHAW
Date of birth:
29 January 1942 (68)
Qualifications:
BA (Hons) (Birmingham); ACMA
Titles:
 Non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of Bytes UK
Experience: 45 years in senior financial and general management positions.

Joined the Altron board in 1991.
 
 

 
AMR (ALEX) SMITH
Date of birth:
12 January 1969 (41)
Qualifications:
Bachelor of Law (Honours) (Edinburgh); CA
Titles:
 Chief financial officer and financial director of Altron
   Non-executive director of Altech, Bytes, Powertech and various other group companies
   Member of the Altron executive committee and risk management committee
Experience: 14 years’ experience in the accounting profession with PricewaterhouseCoopers, both in the UK and South Africa. Initially involved in auditing, later spending eight years in the transaction services/corporate finance fields.

Four years of financial management experience with the Altron group.

Alex is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Joined the Altron board in 2008.
 
 

 
CG (CRAIG) VENTER
Date of birth:
4 July 1962 (47)
Qualifications:
BA (Econ) (UCLA); BA (Psychology) (UCLA); MBA (USC); MSc (Mgmt Science) (USC)
Titles:
 Executive director of Altron
   Chief executive officer of Altech
   Director of Altech Netstar, Altech Autopage Holdings, Kenya Data Networks, Swift Global (Kenya) and various other subsidiaries of Altech, both local and global
   Chairman of Altech’s executive committee, Altech Autopage Holdings, Arrow Altech Holdings, Altech Alcom Matomo, Altech Nu Pay, Altech UEC Multi-Media and      Altech Information Technologies
   Member of the Altron executive committee and risk management committee
   Member of the worldwide Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO)
   Board member of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)
Experience: 21 years in senior management positions in the Altech group.

Joined the Altron board in 1997.
 
 

 
PL (PETER) WILMOT
Date of birth:
13 March 1940 (70)
Qualifications:
CA(SA)
Titles:
 Independent non-executive director of Altron
   Chairman of the Altron audit committee
   Member of the Altron remuneration committee and risk management committee
Experience: Past deputy chairman of The Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board, past chairman of the SA Accounting Practices Board, past chairman of SAICA and past chairman of Deloitte & Touche. He is a former director of Brait Limited, Edgars Consolidated Stores Limited, Allied Technologies Limited and Bytes Technology Group Limited.

Joined the Altron board in 2001.

 

Page updated: 15 June, 2010 » Return to top