CFO Rui Morais will take over as the CEO of Dis-Chem from co-founder Ivan Saltzman in July.
Dis-Chem has announced that its CFO, Rui Morais, who was identified as the successor to the company's CEO in August 2021, will take up the position in July this year. Ivan Saltzman, who is currently the CEO, will step down from the role at the end of June.
“I am excited and privileged to be given the opportunity to lead the Dis-Chem group,” Rui said.
Rui joined Dis-Chem in 2010 and became the retailer’s CFO in August 2012, making him the youngest CFO of a listed company at the time. He was crowned the Young CFO of the Year at the 2018 CFO Awards and won the Strategy Execution Award, and the Finance & Technology Award that same year.
Opening the ‘front door’ to healthcare
“During my time with the group, I have experienced the leadership philosophy that has built the Dis-Chem brand – an obsessive focus on delivering value and access to healthcare for our patients and customers,” Rui added.
He explained that this philosophy, which is well entrenched within the company’s management team and staff, together with recent strategic investments, underpins Dis-Chem’s ambition of building an integrated healthcare ecosystem.
“As an important healthcare service provider, and the ‘front door’ to healthcare delivery, the group is well positioned to deliver on its mandate of increasing access to quality and affordable private healthcare to more South Africans, and in so doing, reinforcing the Dis-Chem brand as South Africa’s healthcare authority and delivering differentiated returns to our shareholders who share this long-term vision.”
A new CFO
Dis-Chem’s current executive head of finance, Julia Pope, will succeed Rui as CFO. “I am deeply honoured and excited to take on the role of CFO and be a part of this transformative healthcare journey,” she said.
Julia has been working with Rui since joining the company in 2017. “I have learnt a significant amount in my six years at Dis-Chem, but what has always stood out is the commitment and dedication to the Dis-Chem brand that has been entrenched throughout the business.”
She added:
“I look forward to playing an integral part in the continued success of the business and working with Rui and the rest of the executive team to achieve our long-term strategy.”
Ivan, who co-founded Dis-Chem with his wife, Lynette, in 1978, will remain an executive director on the board and continue to serve as an active member of the executive management team. “I am confident in and supportive of the future leadership of the group, who share the same commitment to the brand fundamentals that Lynette and I do,” he said.
