Board of Directors

Mr. Anthony (Tony) Ruiters

Independent Non-Executive Chairman

BA (UCT), HDE (UCT), Executive Diploma Business Studies (Stanford University, USA)
Appointed to the board on 21 September 2007.

Tony is known for his innovative thinking, leadership style and entrepreneurial qualities. During his career, Tony has co-founded nine start-ups that became significant companies in South Africa and Africa, including Krew Investments SA (Proprietary) Limited, Share Legend (Proprietary) Limited, Sentio Capital Management (Proprietary) Limited and African Harvest (Proprietary) Limited. He currently serves as director in all the companies he co-founded. Tony has travelled extensively representing South Africa in trade and investment meetings across the globe. He has also participated in numerous presidential and ministerial led delegations abroad.
Mr. Benjamin Mophatlane

Chief Executive Officer

Experience: In 1996, Benjamin co-founded the former Business Connection, a computer reseller focused on Government and parastatals, which subsequently merged with Seattle Solutions in 2001. He served as managing director until the company merged with Comparex Africa in 2004 and he was then appointed deputy chief executive officer. In 2007, he became CEO of Business Connexion.

He is well known within the information technology industry, he has received numerous accolades that include the BITF Black Achiever's Award in 1999, the Information Technology Personality of the Year in 2002, the ICT Legend Award by State Information Technology Agency (SITA) in 2009, and the Top Black Businessman Award at the 9th annual Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Awards held in March 2010.

In his capacity as the Business Connexion CEO - the highest-ranking executive heading up the entire organisation with just over 6600 employees - he is in charge of leading and driving the overall business strategy with the assistance of his executive committee members.

Memberships: Benjamin is a member of the Black Management Forum, the Electronic Industries Federation of South Africa, the Black Information Technology Forum (BITF) and the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency.
Ms. Vanessa Olver

Deputy CEO

Experience: Vanessa joined Business Connexion and was simultaneously appointed to the board on 01 August 2009. She qualified as a chartered accountant by completing her articles at Deloitte & Touche in Durban. Vanessa then worked for Deloitte LLP in Chicago, before moving to the UK where she held financial management positions with P&O Nedloyd and Aviva plc (formerly CGNU plc) in London.

On her return to South Africa, she joined Standard Bank as senior manager: group financial accounting and reporting before being promoted to finance director, Standard Bank Africa, which covered 16 African countries.

She brings a wealth of knowledge including that of two significant mergers in Africa, implementation of SAP financials in 13 African countries, and a considerable international financial reporting experience. Vanessa, in her capacity as deputy CEO, is responsible for working with the CEO to drive the overall business strategy and as Group Executive: Services, she is responsible for ensuring the success of the cloud computing strategy and positioning Business Connexion as the leading cloud service provider.

Memberships: South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA); Certified Public Accountants of Illinois, Chicago, USA as well as the Institute of Directors and Woman in Finance.
Mr. Lawrence Weitzman

Chief Financial Officer

Experience: Lawrence has gained vast experience in finance spanning well over 10 years where he held several Group Financial Management positions in the ICT and financial sectors.

His capabilities have allowed him to gain knowledge in the financial analysis of well known leading organisations including AST Group, Standard Bank of SA and Fourie & Botha.

More recent highlights in his career include playing an active role in the process that Business Connexion embarked on with its new and simplified business model and the implementation of a Financial Shared Services model for the group. Lawrence’s current key responsibilities at Business Connexion include company secretarial, finance and commercial-related functions.

He joined Business Connexion in February 2005 as a Group Financial Manager, where he was responsible for key aspects of the business, which include formulating, implementing and communicating the group financial policy; financial management of all internal subsidiaries and group treasury management and preparation of group consolidated annual financial statements.
Mr. John Jenkins

Executive Director

Experience: John has been a leader in the ICT services industry for many years and has gained considerable expertise in deal-making, contract structuring, service management and multi-sourcing arrangements.

He has specialised in ICT outsourcing, managed services and is one of the founders of the Outsourcing Industry in South Africa. John is a widely recognised consultant, coach and mentor, drawing on over three decades of experience in the IT industry.

In his current role as Group Executive: Business Development – Private Sector, John is responsible for developing new business, ensuring collaboration, integration and alignment across the Divisions with a specific focus on the Private Sector. Over the past five years, John has been responsible for ensuring that our Services Division has become the success that it is today.
Ms. Jenitha John

Non-Executive Director

BCom (University of Durban, Westville), BCompt Hons. (Unisa), Diploma in Company Direction (IoD and GIMT).
Appointed to the board on 1 May 2010

Jenitha John is chief audit executive of the FirstRand Group and has held senior audit positions in the private and public sectors. She is a non-executive director and chair of the audit committees of Tongaat Hulett and Umgeni Water. Jenitha is a member of the following professional bodies; South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) - Chartered Accountant, Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and Institute of Directors. Jenitha serves on the group’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committees
Mr. Nkenke (Nat) Kekana

Non-Executive Director

Post-graduate diploma in telecommunications and information policy (UNISA), Diploma in computer programming (Globe)
Appointed to the board on 2 March 2005

Nat has a wide range of skills and experience in communications and has been involved in formulating telecommunications and broadcasting policies, laws and regulations. He has held various positions during his career, most notable of which is group executive Regulatory and Public Policy at Telkom. He was a Member of Parliament and chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications. He is currently the chief executive offi cer of MSIMA Communications (Proprietary) Limited and an executive director of Mowana Investments (Proprietary) Limited. He also serves on the boards of Brotek (Proprietary) Limited and Experian (South Africa).
Ms. Mamoroke Lehobye

Non-Executive Director

BCom (UCT), HDAC (Wits)
Appointed to the board on 1 May 2010

Mamoroke Lehobye is the managing director and co-founder of professional services business, Basadi in Motion. She was previously a director of internal audit firm - Sekela, and has held senior financial management positions in large corporate concerns. She serves on the audit committee of the National Treasury. Mamoroke serves on the group’s Audit, Risk and Compliance, Remuneration and Nominations Committees.

Professional Qualifications
Admitted to the Institute of Internal Auditors, 2008 Admitted to the Institute of Directors, 2007 Admitted to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, 2001
Mr. John Poluta

Independent Non-Executive Director

BCom, BAcc (Wits), CA (SA)
Appointed to the board on 2 April 2009

John is a chartered accountant who worked at Deloitte & Touche locally and in the USA. In 1998 he joined Barnard Jacobs Mellet as a research analyst, later moving to a senior analyst role at JP Morgan in Johannesburg and London. He is currently an executive director of Mowana Investments (Proprietary) Limited.
Mr. Dean C. Sparrow

Non-Executive Director

Bcompt, CTA, CA(SA)
Appointed to the board on 11 May 2011 following the successful acquisition of the UCS Assets

Dean is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Eye Investments Limited ("CEI") (formerly UCS Group Limited), a private equity investment business in the technology sector. He completed articles at Deloitte & Touche South Africa in 1999 and spent a short time thereafter in the Deloitte New York office. He left Deloitte in 2002 to join the listed UCS Group where he performed various roles over a 10 year period from Group CFO to Deputy CEO and then CEO. In recent years his predominate focus has been on investment activity driven through mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector.