Alumni on the move
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Congratulations to all alumni achievers on achievements and promotions in the month of October
Commerce
Jesmane Boggenpoel (BCom 1995, BAcc 1996) was appointed as non- executive director to the Spur board.
Professor Suresh Parbhoo Kana (MCom 1986) has chaired the audit committee providing oversight over activities of the World Food Programme since 2015. This programme received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its global efforts to combat hunger.
Cristina Teixeira (BCom 1994) was appointed Spur Corporation CFO from February 2021. She has 12 years’ experience as CFO in listed companies. She was CFO at Group Five and joined Consolidated Group as CFO in 2019. She was voted Businesswoman of the Year by Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa in 2013.
Fulvio Tonelli (BCom 1983, BCom Hons 1984) was appointed as non-executive director of Absa Kenya.
Nexio, South Africa’s digital system aggregator, appointed Brian Tarr (BCom 1983) as Managing Executive: Technology.
Law
Bharti (Bharie) Harie (LLM 1999) has been appointed to the board of EOH as independent non-executive director from 1 January 2021. She is an independent non-executive director on the boards of Lenmed Investments Limited, Ascendis Health Limited, St Davids Marist Inanda and Stefanutti Stocks Holdings Limited. She was previously an independent non-executive director of Bell Equipment, Mineworkers Investment Company Limited and Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre and 14 years at the IDC.
Management
Pavlo Phitidis (MBA 2001) virtually launched his book Reset, Rebuild, Reignite: Build your business to thrive in a crisis.
Kesagee Nayager (MBA 2015) was appointed as the new president of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa.
Engineering
Thabile Makgala (BSc Eng 2005 cum laude) holds the position as Executive at Impala Platinum, and has been appointed as Chairperson of Women in Mining in South Africa.
Medicine
Dr Eliel Bayever (MBBCh 1973) was appointed as Chief Medical Officer at Elucida Oncology, a biotechnology company.
Dr Mark Friedlander (MBBCh 1982), was appointed as head of the behavioural health division at Universal Health Services. He spent nine years as CMO for Aetna's behavioral health unit. He was also corporate medical director for Penn-Friends Behavioral Health Systems in Plymouth Meeting and, before that, director of outpatient clinic and adolescent inpatient care at Friends Hospital, a UHS-owned behavioral health facility in Philadelphia.
Dr Norman B Gaylis (MBBCh 1973) was appointed to the elite Scientific Advisory Board of Inmedix. He is a leader in the field of arthritis and autoimmune disorders.
Dr Ian Mark Landy (BDS 1991) appointed as CEO of Micron Medical, a medical device company in the development, manufacture of wireless, minimal invasive solutions for urological conditions from October. His has served in senior positions at MiMedx, MIV Therapeutics and significant healthcare-related Wall Street experience as research analyst at leading investment banks including Leerink Swann, Northland Capital Markets. Apart from his Wits degree, he also has bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Jerome Loveland (MBBCh 1996), who is head of Paediatric Surgery at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and founder of the Surgeons for Little Lives charity, was awarded the 2020 Golden Eagle Award by St John’s College for his contribution to society.
Dr Thembisile Xulu (MPH 2008) was recently appointed as the new CEO of the South African National AIDS Council.
Humanities
Professor Anton Harber (BA 1979) Adjunct Professor in the Journalism and Media Studies Department at Wits, launched his new book So, for the Record: Behind the Headlines in an Era of State Capture. He was in conversation with Jacques Pauw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgTo_5qJNiw
Cheriese Dilrajh (BA FA 2019) and Hemali Khoosal (BA FA 2020) were awarded the prestigious Sam Nhlengethwa Bursary and will be mentored at the Bag Factory in Newtown for a year.
The World Food Prize Foundation, announced Keegan Kautzky (MA 2008) as Senior Director of the World Food Prize Global Youth Programs and Partnerships.
Science
Dr Dean H Barrett (BSc 2008, BSc Hons 2009, PhD 2012) joint researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand and the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials in Brazil, is part of an intercontinental research team announced as IChemE Global Awards finalists in the Energy category for its Decentralised Diesel system, which aims to produce fuel from waste.
Black Royalty Minerals Koornfontein, part of the Makole Group, appointed Zandile Mdanda (BSc 2005, BSc Hons 2007, MBA 2018) as CEO of Koornfontein Mine. Mdanda’s career is grounded in coal – she has worked her way up the mining corporate ladder with her first position was as a trainee geologist at Anglo Coal and she eventually held the position of senior geologist. She then obtained a position as chief geologist at Xstrata Coal (now Glencore). She was appointed chief geologist to the General Manager Project at African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation before moving to the Milele Group.
Nosipho Carol Molope (BSc 1988) has been appointed to board of EOH as non-executive director from the 1 January 2021. She is an independent non-executive director of a number of companies, including Old Mutual Life Assurance Company Limited, MTN South Africa and MTN Rwanda, Uganda, Swaziland and Zambia, Engen Limited and South 32 Coal Holdings Proprietary Limited.
In memoriam
Alumni Relations mourns the deaths of the following alumni and extend condolences to their family and friends:
Professor Ampie Coetzee (MA 1963, PhD 1967) died on 15 October at the age of 81.
Linda Givon (Gold Medal 2007) passed away on 5 October.
Professor Daniel Plaatjies (PhD 2008) was Chairperson of the Financial and Fiscal Commission passed away on the evening of 10 October at the age of 57.
Heinrich Pietersen Rauch (BSc Eng 1951, MSc Eng 1958) passed away on 4 October 2020 at the age of 90. His mother, Dr Johanna Victoria Rauch was a lecturer in the faculty of medicine during the early 1950s. His son Johann (BSc Eng 1979) and granddaughter, Christine (BPharm 2005) are proud Wits graduates.
Dr David Proctor (BSc Eng 1962, PhD 1977) died in Johannesburg on 26 September 2020 of complications following surgery at the age of 88.
Dr Ian Potgieter (MBBCh 1957) passed away on 2 October at the age of 84.
See more here: /alumni/obituaries/