It has never been a secret that Brooks Mparutsa has international ambitions. He told me as much during the candid CFO of the Week interview that we published earlier this year. Brooks, who was nominated for the 2015 CFO Awards, has a real passion for Africa and a recent executive reshuffle at the Hollard Insurance is making is possible to follow his dreams, with Brooks being appointed Executive Director: International from 1 January 2016.
Hollard's CFO role will be filled by Willie Lategan, Chief Executive of Wealth, Investment Management and Insurance (WIMI) who spent more than 20 years in within the Absa environment.
CFO Awards nominees have been faring well lately, with multiple award winner Anoj Singh (CFO Transnet) being appointed as trouble shooter at Eskom. Digicore CFO Cobus Grove - winner of the Governance & Compliance Award 2015 - was able to attract an impressive acquisition offer from Nasdaq-listed Novatel Wireless after his impressive turnaround strategy was highlighted.
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Brooks Mparutsa is has already had an impressive career in the public and private sector, with PwC, South African Airways (SAA), Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Stanbic Bank in East Africa already on his CV. The 2015 CFO Awards booklet summarised his accomplishments as follows.
Brooks Mparutsa recently initiated and executed the biggest acquisition in the history of Hollard. He has also been put in charge of the expansion plan for the rest of Africa and plays a pivotal role in strategy planning and execution. Yet, Mparutsa says that firing people remains the toughest decision he has had to make in the last year. The CFO is a strong believer in the need for a B-BBEE policy and says that the need for the policy will only disappear once corporates truly transform. The most exciting part of the CFO role is the birds' eye view, says Mparutsa.
In a press release Hollard indicates that it wanted to "accommodate Brooks' career aspirations" and indeed the CFO is a meticulous career planner. Earlier this year he told he really wants to get involved in the Africa operations and make a difference. "As far back as 2001, after an insightful trip to Rwanda, I set a goal for myself to contribute to the growth of Africa," he said.
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