Fortress

A,Dr Iraj Abedian
Dr Iraj Abedian

BA (Honours), MA (Economics) (University of Cape Town), PhD (Economics) (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Independent non-executive chairman
Date of appointment: December 2015

Iraj Abedian is the founder and Chief Executive of Pan-African Capital Holdings Proprietary Limited. He was Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Town, before joining Standard Bank Group in 2000 as Group Chief Economist. He obtained his BA (Honours) and MA in Economics from UCT. He received his PhD in Economics from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1993. He was the founder and Director of the Applied Fiscal Research Centre (AFReC) at UCT and he has been a consultant on economic policy issues to public and private sector organisations in South Africa as well as internationally. His recent involvement in policy development in South Africa includes: The Transformation of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1995), the RDP White Paper (1995), Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR 1996), Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and the Presidential Review Commission (PRC 1997).

He is a prolific researcher and has written numerous articles and co-authored a number of books. Iraj is an honorary Professor of Economics at Graduate School of Business, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth. He is a member of the board of directors of Munich Re of Africa and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Auditor General of the South African Government.
B,Jeffrey (Jeff) Nathan Zidel
Jeffrey (Jeff) Nathan Zidel

Independent non-executive deputy chairman
Date of appointment: October 2009

Jeff has been a successful property developer and investor and has been involved in all aspects of the property industry for more than 40 years. He was three times past president of the Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce. He was the winner of the 2010 Absa Jewish Achiever Award for Listed Companies. He was a co-founder of Resilient, is a director of the South African Council of Shopping Centres and a non-executive director of Nepi.
C,Mark Walter Stevens
Mark Walter Stevens

Managing director and Chief executive officer
Date of appointment: October 2009

Mark has been involved in the commercial and industrial property industry for over 25 years, working as an independent and corporate broker, private investor and developer. His career has included 10 years with Old Mutual Properties and another three years with the Imperial Group.




D,Abraham Albertus (Rual) Bornman
Abraham Albertus (Rual) Bornman

CA(SA)
Financial director
Date of appointment: December 2015

Rual started his career with KPMG in financial services auditing. In 2003 he joined Stanlib where he was involved in management reporting, accounting and system integration.

He then joined a software development firm implementing reconciliation systems at Stanlib, before being employed by Resilient in 2005. In June 2009 Rual was appointed financial director of Capital. Upon the merger of Capital and Fortress, Rual was appointed financial director of Fortress in December 2015.
E,Andrew Edward Teixeira
Andrew Edward Teixeira

BSc Quantity Surveying
Executive director
Date of appointment: December 2015

Andrew started his career in his own construction company. He then joined JHI Real Estate in 1993 in their property management division. He was appointed as the director responsible for property management nationally in 2002.

Andrew served as a director of Diversified and was the managing director of PFM prior to the Pangbourne merger. In July 2007 Andrew was appointed as executive director of Capital. Upon the merger of Capital and Fortress, Andrew was appointed executive director of Fortress in December 2015.
F,Steven Brown
Steven Brown

CA(SA), CFA
Executive director
Date of appointment: April 2016

Steven entered the property industry after completing his accounting articles at KPMG when he joined Corovest as a listed property analyst in 2008. Following this Steven joined Standard Bank’s Real Estate Finance team as a transactor and following this in the Real Estate Investments division. Steven joined the Resilient Africa board in April 2013 and assisted with the structuring and finance functions for this Nigerian focused business. Shortly thereafter, Steven joined the Rockcastle team assisting with the negotiations, structuring and management of the direct property acquisitions in Zambia. In February 2015, Steven joined Capital asset management team, managing a portfolio of buildings and also filled the role of company secretary from May 2015 until Capital was acquired by Fortress in November 2015. Steven was appointed as an alternate director to Andrew Teixeira, and executive director of Fortress in April 2016.
G,Fareed Ismail Wania
Fareed Ismail Wania

Executive director
Date of appointment: June 2016

Fareed started his property career with RMP Properties in 1996. He subsequently joined the JHI Real Estate Group Limited where he was involved in their property management division as a portfolio manager. Fareed was instrumental in the setup, opening and running of the JHI Lesotho office. In 2004 he joined the Pangbourne group as a senior asset manager reporting to the managing director. After the merger with Pangbourne, Fareed was employed as an asset manager with Capital. Upon the merger of Capital and Fortress, Fareed was appointed executive director of Fortress in June 2016.
H,Willem Jakob (Wiko) Serfontein
Willem Jakob (Wiko) Serfontein

BCompt (Hons), CA (SA)
Executive director
Date of appointment: May 2011

Wiko completed his articles with PwC and joined its transaction services division for six years where he focused on due diligence work. He spent two years with Ernst & Young Corporate Finance and joined the Resilient group in April 2009. In May 2011 Wiko was appointed as financial director of Fortress. Upon the merger of Capital and Fortress, Wiko was appointed executive director of Fortress in December 2015.
I,Kurauwone (Kura) Ndakashaya Francis Chihota
Kurauwone (Kura) Ndakashaya Francis Chihota

BCom, Post Graduate Diploma: Business Administration, Real Estate Management Programme (Harvard)
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: October 2009

Kura is managing director of Leapfrog Commercial Properties. He ran an unlisted commercial property fund in Zimbabwe and serves on the boards of several local property investment companies including the Johannesburg Housing Company. He is a past chairman of the South African Property Owners' Association ("SAPOA") in Gauteng and currently serves as deputy chairman of the Johannesburg Housing Company.
J,Nontando Thelma Mahlati
Nontando Thelma Mahlati

B.Sc Quantity Surveying PrQS, MAQS, RICS
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: October 2009

Nontando founded Mahlati Associates in 1996 and became a director and co-founder of Mahlati Quantity Surveyors. Her work covers all aspects of quantity surveying and cost engineering and project management. Experience has been gleaned in her area of expertise at Davis Langdon (now Aecom), du Toit Lombard & Malan and the Department of Works and Energy in the Eastern Cape. Nontando ran the quantity surveying section focusing specifically on Soweto while at du Toit Lombard & Malan. She is the founder and a member of Black Women Developers and Professionals Proprietary Limited and former chairperson of Imbumba Aganang. She is an active member of the South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners and SAPOA.
K,Urbanus (Banus) Johannes van der Walt
Urbanus (Banus) Johannes van der Walt

B Econ, Advanced Executive Programme
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: December 2015

Banus is a retired property practitioner. Banus was previously the managing director of Sanlam Properties and Gensec Property Services for 16 years. Banus has 40 years’ property experience with the Sanlam Group and has travelled extensively to study the property industry, both locally and internationally. Banus is a past president of the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) and has been a non-executive director of Martprop, Acucap, SA Retail and iFour.

He was also involved in the listing of Primegro, Acucap, Resilient, iFour, SA Retail, MICC and Vukile. He is currently a member of the Property Committee of Sanlam and a non-executive of three non-listed companies.
L,Tshiamo Daphne Matlapeng-Vilakazi
Tshiamo Daphne Matlapeng-Vilakazi

BA(SW), LLB, Certificate in Mining Prospecting (SA)
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: December 2015

Tshiamo is a practising attorney, conveyancer and notary public. She is a legal consultant to Gauteng Provincial Government and Department of Housing.

She is also a member of the Housing Advisory Panel of North West Provincial Government, Department of Housing and has been in practice for 20 years.
M,Jan Naude Potgieter
Jan Naude Potgieter

BCompt (Hons), CTA, CA(SA), Management Development Program (University of Michigan), Strategic Planning & Management in Retailing (Monash University Australia)
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: December 2015

Jan qualified as a CA doing his articles with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He held various managerial positions early in his career including business manager at Clover SA and then seven years at various divisions of SABMiller in senior financial roles.

In 2005, he was headhunted by Massmart to join their Massdiscounters team first as financial director then six years as chief executive officer. He then did consulting work before joining the Italtile group as chief operating officer.
N,Djurk Peter Claudius Venter
Djurk Peter Claudius Venter

BCompt (Hons), CA(SA)
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment: October 2009

Djurk completed his articles at Ernst & Young and then joined the Department of Inland Revenue in the insurance and financial institution assessing division. In 1996 he started an audit practice, Treisman Venter and Associates. In 2004 he joined Glass, Tucker and Venter (Chartered Accountants and Auditors) as partner. Djurk was a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee of Diversified Property Fund Limited.

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