City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
An experienced executive with an extensive track record of delivery, the breadth of my experience is global and diverse; covering the fields of commercial leadership, operations, finance, strategy and programme management. These have been gained internationally and locally in the credit, banking, investment and administration environments with AFB, Old Mutual and Woolworths Financial Services, and across all levels of the organisation. I have been fortunate to lead considerable portfolios and drive large scale, high value strategic deliveries (including the concomitant change management), process design and improvements and lead and work with senior teams who I have not only learnt from, but have shared experiences with during good and tough trading conditions. I have also participated in various international programmes to the US, UK and East Africa that have provided me with rich experience of their markets and vastly enriched my experience and insights. I am described as an exceptionally loyal, principled and values-driven individual with an admired work ethic who is able to balance both the intellectual and execution sides of modern business. This has been evidenced throughout my career and through testimonials from my leaders, colleagues and those I have led over the past 20 years. A three code provincial sportsman, I spend my leisure time with my family, cooking, road or trail running or on the golf course. A voracious reader too, my tastes vary across topics and genres. Qualifications wise, I hold a cum laude MBA (University of Stellenbosch, where I was awarded the Top 10 gold medal for excellence) and an undergraduate B Comm degree in Finance (University of South Africa). I have also completed and excelled in the International Executive Development programme with Wits Business School (in affiliation with leading London and Ugandan business schools) where I was honoured to be elected valedictorian.
• Accountable for all operational, IT and strategic implementation elements for the Old Mutual Wealth businesses (600 staff, R800m expense budget) • Successfully developed and led the strategy and implementation to transform OM Wealth’s landscape into a streamlined, robust, agile and future fit capability that enables growth (including the intensive change management) • Led the team that delivered the most successful business migration in Old Mutual’s 177 year history • Led a 70%+ improvement in client and financial planner experience • Overseeing day-to-day operations end-to-end, including functions in the OM Wealth value chain (Technology, Strategic Delivery, Risk, Audit, Legal, Investment and Business Compliance, Business Resilience) • Line ownership for Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Old Mutual Investment Services • Multiple and long standing directorships • Significant (daily) engagement and strong relationships with the client base in the market • Building effective relationships with key stakeholders across various internal functions within Old Mutual Wealth, the broader OM business and externally (financial planners, key Independent Financial Advisors and tied partners, the regulators and retirement fund trustees)
• Accountable for all operational, marketing, customer experience, product and fee activities for the R105bn (institutional and retail) investment business • Key player in the business being awarded best South African Multi-Manager • Delivered 20% reduction in operating costs through streamlining process • Lead in securing several billion Rands in new business • Accountability for the delivery and driving of the business strategy • Voted by my peers as one of the Leaders of the year for Old Mutual Wealth (2017)
• Accountable for all credit management activities (New business, existing customer management and collections) to drive to a more profitable state • Chairman of the credit committee including ensuring a robust credit policy is in place and followed • Improved application and fraud losses by 50% through implementing new scorecards, fraud initiatives and pre-delinquency measures • Lifted collections performance by 25% through redesigning collections strategies, operational changes, skills transfer and external agency management and delivered a 15% improvement in existing customer profitability by implementing a new generation credit line strategy and assigning a dedicated marketing analyst to support existing customer management activity • Led and played a key role in drafting the cards turnaround strategy that laid out the 5 year plan and vision and multi-territory operating model
I took the opportunity to take a year off to spend quality time with my family, coach sport, travel, read and write extensively and perform some pro-bono consulting to small businesses. An experience I would recommend to anyone.
• Responsible for the overall growth and commercial performance of the WFS Store Card, Loans and Credit Card portfolios • Accountability for the overall marketing function of the WFS business including Agency management, with specific focus on aligning with the Woolworths retail brand • Chairman of various sub-committees (Growth Management, Employment Equity and Commercial Management) and member of various key committees (Business risk committee, Credit risk committee and Executive committee) • Delivered various high value projects around cost saving and new profit streams from concept through to implementation • Launched Customer Experience and internal communications as a new discipline within WFS and successfully drove various initiatives to embed these in the organisation • Redesigned (based on professional market research) the Customer Value propositions of the Store Card, Credit card and loans products including an aligned go to market strategy
• Responsible for the overall performance of the internal and external collections areas for WFS (~ R2bn collections book) • Held accountability for the overall performance of the Frauds area for WFS (~R8bn turnover) • Led a staff complement of 250 staff in terms of training, development and retention • Delivering significant (~30% improvement) in key efficiency and commercial (impairment) ratios • Completely overhauled and improved the management, measurement and effectiveness of the outsourced collections process • Delivered highest recorded debt sale prices in the business’s history • Drove initiatives that resulted in historically poor areas in terms of Employee Satisfaction to being amongst the top performers • Developing and maintaining of stakeholder relationships with local and international counterparts to ensure that global collections, recoveries and frauds best practices are implemented within the business
• Responsible for the growth in profitability of the two million Store Card, Loans, Credit Card and Insurance customers of Woolworths Financial Services • Implemented various new product enhancements, strategies and initiatives to drive growth and profitability of the various portfolios through product, pricing and IT development • Completion, design and review of capital investment business cases and reviews • Built close working relationships with local and international counterparts to ensure that global Existing Customer Management best practices are implemented. • Delivering on growth targets in a low consumer credit demand environment by continually applying test and learn approaches until the correct mix and fit of segmented marketing and optimal commercial lift was achieved • Project sponsor for various projects both from IT and business perspectives