Cape Town - MMI Holdings announced this week that its chief operating officer (COO) Danie Botes and the CEO of Momentum Retail Etienne de Waal have resigned "to pursue other interests".
Both have been with the group for more than 20 years.
Ketola told Fin24 on Friday that the decision of Botes and De Waal to leave was purely personal by nature.
"It’s never ideal when two senior people resign in the same period, but we respect their decision," said Ketola.
In response to a question by Fin24 on whether the decision of Botes and De Waal to leave was due to MMI's 5% fall in headline earnings to R1.6bn for the six months to December, Ketola said it is not linked.
"Etienne and Danie have resigned to pursue other interests," said Ketola.
"We see these changes as an opportunity to renew and strengthen our executive capability. We have identified strong internal candidates to assume new leadership roles at the group level."
Mary Vilakazi, current group finance director, has been appointed deputy chief executive of MMI Holdings. Her portfolio will include responsibility for the group’s finance, information technology and operations functions. The Deputy CEO role will effectively amalgamate the previous COO and financial director roles.
To support Vilakazi in the expanded responsibility, two new roles have been added to the MMI executive committee, namely group chief financial officer and group head of operations.
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Risto Ketola, current investor relations and business performance executive, has been appointed group CFO. Ketola will take executive accountability for investor relations, performance management, group reporting, certain group-wide services, mergers and acquisitions, and balance sheet management.
Ashlene van der Colff, current group chief internal audit executive, has been appointed group head of operations. According to MMI, Van der Colff has a proven track record in implementing business processes and will take responsibility to ensure that MMI operations and work practices are "robust, effective and efficient".
Khanyi Nzukuma has been appointed CEO of Momentum Retail. According to MMI, Nzukuma has a strong track record having led the extensive channel restructuring in Metropolitan Retail "that is now bearing fruit". He will take forward Momentum’s plans around revitalising its distribution models and client engagement experiences.
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