Board and executive

Chief Executive Officer

• FASSA
• BSc (Actuarial Science)
• Advanced Management Programme (INSTEAD)

Appointed: 1 November 2018

Committee Responsibilities: Member of the mergers and acquisitions and social, ethics and transformation committees

Dawie was appointed group chief executive of Alexforbes on 1 November 2018. Prior to his appointment, he was the chief executive officer of Sanlam Employee Benefits, a position he held since 2013. He started his career at Sanlam as an actuary in 1993 in Sanlam Life Insurance, before assuming several senior executive positions in the business over period of 25 years. During this period, he broadened his business acumen, while gaining an in-depth knowledge of the technicalities and markets served by each of these units.

Dawie has a wealth of experience in the employee benefits and investment management industry and believes that the employee benefits industry can have a huge influence in South Africa by really changing people’s lives through enabling financial peace of mind.

He is at the helm of a strategic shift at Alexforbes, charting a course for the company's growth and impact. Under his leadership, the company is poised to extend its leading positions across administration, retirements, healthcare, and asset management capabilities. Dawie's vision for Alexforbes includes a transformation into the most inclusive retail financial advice firm in Southern Africa. Above all, he is committed to demonstrating a meaningful and positive impact on the stakeholders that the company serves.

Chief Finance Officer

• CA(SA)
• CFA

Appointed: 1 April 2019

Bruce was appointed chief financial officer and director of Alexander Forbes on 1 April 2019. He has over 25 years’ experience in finance, audit, accounting, taxation, financial reporting, debt structuring and corporate finance, of which more than 18 years has been with the company. Before this role, Bruce served as finance director of Alexander Forbes Group Services and was responsible for the central group finance function. Among his achievements, Bruce was part of the finance team that took the company through private equity ownership between 2007 and its relisting on the JSE in July 2014. Bruce completed his articles with Deloitte (South Africa) in Johannesburg and subsequently spent three years with Deloitte (United States) in numerous audit roles. He has also spent a number of years in corporates such as Presmed Healthcare and Deutsche Bank.

Executive: Consulting

• MBA (Wits)
• Honours Bachelor of Commerce (UNISA)
• Bachelor of Commerce (Wits)

Appointed: 1 January 2008

Butsi started her career at Alexander Forbes in 1995 and has served in various leadership roles, including a successful stint as the Managing Director of Alexander Forbes Health. Butsi was recently appointed as the Executive responsible for all Clients within the Alexander Forbes Group, including health, retirements and Investments.

She is actively involved in various industry initiatives, notably as world President of the board of the Financial Intermediaries Association of South Africa. She has served as the vice-president and past chairperson of the Board and member the Health Exco. She was instrumental in submissions made to government on a number of issues including National Health Insurance. She is passionate about women empowerment and is a founding member of the Alexander Forbes Women in Business. She is also a founding trustee of the Isilulu Trust, an employee share scheme aimed at increasing black-women ownership in the company. In 2018, Butsi was accepted on the prestigious International Women’s Forum Fellows Programme, which included leadership development at Harvard University and INSEAD. Butsi has a passion for education and is very involved in the restoration of historically significant schools. Butsi is married and has two children.

Executive: Solutions and Enablement

• B.Com (Hons)
• Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa and Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Appointed: 1 May 2017

John is the executive for Solutions and Enablement at Alexforbes. In this role he oversees the management of the Group’s solutions in line with the company’s approach of securing a lifetime of financial well-being for clients. He has over 20 years’ experience in employee benefits and asset management. John has consulted to a number of large clients as valuator, employee benefit consultant, investment consultant and portfolio manager. He was the national head of consulting strategy for many years before leading the Research & Product Development area in Alexander Forbes Financial Services.

John is a fellow of both the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA) and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (FFA). He is a member of the ASISA Strategy and Policy Advisory Committee, previous member of various industry bodies, including the Research Committee and Retirement Matters Committee of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, ASISA Retirement Standing Committee and ASISA Retirement Reform Committee. He is a former member of the Council of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. In 2016, John co-authored a paper titled “The retirement income frontier and its application in constructing investment strategies at retirement”. This paper received the prize for the best paper by first-time authors and the best overall paper presented at the 2016 Actuarial Convention as well as a special award by the German Institute of Pension Actuaries (IVS) at the International Congress of Actuaries 2018. This research has contributed towards innovation in the retirement industry, with advisers and providers increasingly using combinations of annuity types following the release of the paper.

Executive: Governance, Legal, Compliance and Sustainability

• LLM: Extractive industry law in Africa (cum laude)
• LLM: Labour Law, Advanced Labour Law (cum laude)
• LLB
• PMD (cum laude)
• FGIS

Appointed: 1 October 2017

Carina is a highly accomplished executive with extensive experience in the mining and financial services industries. As an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa, she brings a wealth of legal expertise to her roles. Carina's academic achievements include an Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School, an LLM in Extractive Industry Law in Africa (cum laude), an LLM in Labour Law, FGIS certification, a PMD (cum laude), an Advanced Labour Law (cum laude), and an LLB degree.

Carina has made significant contributions to the governance and corporate sectors during her career. She is a fellow and past president of the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa and has also served as the past president of the Corporate Secretaries International Association. During her tenure on the boards of these associations, Carina collaborated with prominent international organisations such as the International Finance Corporation and the World Trade Organisation, fostering global governance aspirations and thought leadership.

Over the past two decades, Carina has demonstrated her commitment to excellence through various roles as a non-executive director and audit committee member and chair in both public service and commercial companies. Notably, she served on the audit committee of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa for approximately nine years.

As a respected thought leader, Carina has co-authored numerous academic publications on governance-related topics. Her thought leadership papers and articles have been published in various reputable outlets. She is also a sought-after speaker, having presented in numerous national and international conferences, including cities such as Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mumbai, New York, New Delhi, and Sao Paulo.

One of the highlights of Carina's illustrious career was her appointment as one of the youngest executives responsible for governance at a Top 40 listed company in 2011. During her tenure as Group Secretary and Legal at Exxaro Resources Limited, Carina received several prestigious governance-related awards, including the top award in the Nkonki Integrated Reporting Awards and the Best Corporate Governance Award (mining category, Africa region) from Ethical Boardroom Magazine for 2015.

Since joining Alexforbes, Carina has continued to excel, leading her team to receive numerous external accolades. Her accomplishments include being awarded General Counsel of the Year in the African Legal Awards 2020 (also shortlisted in 2019 and 2022), recognised as a Corporate and National Positive Role Model in the 8th Gender Mainstreaming Awards 2020, and named the SADC country winner for Financial Services in the Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards 2019.

Carina has played a pivotal role in executing the revised group strategy at Alexforbes, overseeing transformative merger and acquisition transactions, including the recent investment from the New York listed Prudential Financial Inc. Her exceptional leadership led to her also being entrusted with groupwide executive accountability for sustainability in June 2022. Under her guidance, a comprehensive sustainability strategy has been developed, including the establishment of the Alexforbes Impact Centre of Excellence, which focuses on executing the group's strategic objective of becoming a force for good. Carina's vision for a new retirement fund of the future™ has set the standard for embracing sustainability and ESG in the retirement fund industry, ensuring resilience and sustainable benefits for the future.

Carina is also the South African Chapter Lead for Global Leaders in Law, further demonstrating her leadership and influence within the legal and governance community. With her expertise in the mining and financial services sectors, Carina brings a unique perspective to her role, driving impactful change and advancements in global governance practices.

Carina's passion for her excellence and dedication to driving positive change make her a standout figure in her field. Her extensive achievements and expertise have earned her recognition as an influential figure both locally and internationally.

Executive: Client Services and Business Operations

• Post-graduate Diploma in Management (Monash University)
• Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management (WITS)

Appointed: 1 June 2017

Laura was appointed Executive: Client Services in August 2020. She is responsible for driving strategic initiatives that support business efficiencies, improve client experience, increase client retention and create new business opportunities for Alexander Forbes. She ensures compliance with relevant legislation and governance requirements and proactively identifies risks so that robust mitigation strategies are put in place. Prior to this, Laura was the executive manager for Alexander Forbes Investments. In this role she supported the managing director in the strategic planning and management of the business as well as the identification of opportunities for collaboration across the company. She has over 25 years’ financial services experience, focusing on strategic management, operational effectiveness, client relationship management and employee relations. Laura spent nine years at MMI Holdings, where she held different positions within the company. At MMI, she supported the distribution and relationship management teams strategically in achieving their sales and retention targets and spent many years managing the operational employee benefits teams and clients in both the Umbrella and stand-alone environments. Laura also managed client relationships to retain and promote MMI as the preferred financial wellness provider of choice. Laura also worked at NMG Consultants & Actuaries as well as NBC holdings as a director in both companies.

Executive: Human Capital & Transformation

• BA Honours (University of Natal)
• Project Management (Damelin) Strategic Human Resources (Harvard Business School) and Advanced Management (Wharton Business School)

Appointed: 1 October 2020

Jonathan has operated as a senior executive in multiple industries, responsible for multiple markets across Africa, Middle East, Europe and US. He has worked for major global and multinationals such as Atlas Mara (group exco), Pick n Pay (operating board), Standard Bank (Rest of Africa exco), Coca-Cola South Africa and Turkey (exco), and BP Southern Africa and UK. Jonathan Muthige started a corporate career in 1995 and built skills and experience in human resources, sales, project management, banking operations, facilities management, procurement, as well as BEE and transformation. A total of 20 of the 25 years in corporate have been at senior and executive leadership levels in South Africa, UK, Turkey, Dubai and recently based in Botswana. Jonathan has been involved in work across the African continent (covering 17 countries) and globally, including major HR and business transformation projects for BP, Coca-Cola, Standard Bank, Pick ‘n Pay and Atlas Mara. Jonathan has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director at Development Bank of Southern Africa effective 1 October 2023.

Executive: Retail
Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA), Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA), MBA (obtained with distinction) from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, BBusSc (Hons: Actuarial Science) from the University of Cape Town.

Appointed: 1 May 2021

Viresh has over 16 years of experience in the financial services sector with leading companies such as Metropolitan Life and Sanlam. He started his career at Metropolitan Life in 2005 as Product Development Specialist, before joining Sanlam Group Risk, as a Risk Product Actuary. He subsequently occupied senior and executive roles at Sanlam Corporate with a focus on new business growth while participating in and leading various client-oriented strategic initiatives, until his appointment at Alexander Forbes. Viresh has also been a director of Simeka Health, Sanlam Health Solutions and Graviton Wealth. He is a past vice president of the Association of South African Black Actuarial Professionals (ASABA), a former member of the Council of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) and led the Sanlam Benchmark research and symposium process for the past 5 years.

Viresh is the Executive for Retail at Alexforbes, applying nearly two decades of client-centric leadership experience to drive Alexforbes’s transformation towards becoming a leading retail financial services firm. In his position, Viresh leads our individual consulting and wealth management capabilities, IFA partnerships and engagement, retail solutioning and investment propositions, digital transformation and group marketing. He is recognised as one of the leading voices in the employee benefits industry advocating for inclusive access to financial advice, empowerment of clients and technological innovation. His most recent role was as Executive for Strategy and Customer Experience at Alexforbes having led the refresh and implementation of the group vision, value proposition, strategy and brand. Viresh was the Managing Executive of Distribution at Sanlam Corporate prior to joining Alexforbes.