The mood was warm and jovial during an exclusive dinner for the panel of judges of the 2016 CFO Awardsand winners of last year's awards, hosted by CFO South Africa at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rosebank on 27 January 2016. The gathering allowed the judges to prepare for the judging process for this year's prestigious awards, but - most of all - gave them an opportunity to catch up and network. The dinner brought together the CFOs of the Year from 2014 and 2015, Simon Ridley (Standard Bank) and Deon Viljoen (Alexander Forbes), and a host of other business leaders.
Top photo: Simon Ridley (Standard Bank), Graham Fehrsen (CFO South Africa & Aarti Takoordeen (JSE Limited)
There was laughter aplenty and discussions ranged from Bongani Nqwababa's promotion from CFO to joint-CEOat Sasol, the pending retirement of Simon Ridley, the great responses to Deon Viljoen's award and the African growth expectations of Greg Davis (Standard Bank Africa CFO).
Photo on the right: Sneha Shah (Thompson Reuters) & Deon Viljoen (Alexander Forbes)
CFO South Africa MD Graham Fehrsen thanked all the judges for their involvement with CFO South Africa, the high calibre of the judging panel being one of the main contributing reasons for the massive growth of our networking and knowledge sharing community for finance leaders. He also walked everyone through the judging process, which involves interviews with the nominees and a simple voting process.
Victor Sekese (CEO SizweNtsalubaGobodo) and Claudelle von Eck (CEO IIA SA), have both been involved form the inaugural CFO Awards in 2014. KPMG's Executive Committee member Carel Smit and Webber Wentzel partner Christo Els were also present at the dinner. They were both involved in last year's judging process. MD Sneha Shah of Thomson Reuters, which last week signed a partnership with CFO South Africa, was able to mingle with the top CFOs and judges for the first time.
(On the left: Greg Davis (Standard Bank Africa), Victor Sekese (SizweNtsalubaGobodo) & Joël Roerig (CFO South Africa). On the right: Claudelle von Eck (IIA SA) & Carel Smit (KPMG).
Simon Ridley, who will be retiring in April after an incredible career as CFO at Absa and Standard Bank, has grown into a great supporter of CFO South Africa and it was a great privilege to have both him and Deon Viljoen present. JSE Limited CFO Aarti Takoordeen also joined the conversation and will also be on the judging panel for 2016.
The full panel of judges for the 2016 awards consists of:
Simon Ridley, Group CFO Standard Bank & CFO of the Year 2014
Deon Viljoen, Group CFO Alexander Forbes & CFO of the Year 2015
Aarti Takoordeen, CFO JSE Limited & Young CFO of the Year 2014
Brett Tromp, CFO Discovery Health & Young CFO of the Year 2015Carel Smit, Executive Committee Member KPMG South Africa
Sneha Shah, Managing Director Africa Thomson Reuters
Victor Sekese, CEO SizweNtsalubaGobodo
Delphine Maïdou, CEO Allianz GCS Africa
Claudelle von Eck, CEO The Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa
Ben Marx, Vice-Chairperson Accountancy Department of Faculty of Economic and Financial Sciences of the University of Johannesburg
Jonathan Lang, Head of Africa and Practice Partner, Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group
David Fine, Managing Director McKinsey South Africa
Christo Els, Senior Partner Webber Wentzel
Clement Chinaka, Managing Director Old Mutual Corporate
On the right: Bongani Nqwababa (Sasol). Below: Simon Ridley (Standard Bank) & Deon Viljoen (Alexander Forbes).
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