Rick Garratt (65) – Chairman
BCom, CA(SA)
Appointed 1991

Rick has been the executive chairman since 2007. Prior to that he was the chief executive officer. Rick founded the group in 1985 and has been involved with all operational aspects. He was previously a partner at Ernst & Young.

Shirley Maltz (40) – Chief executive officer of HomeChoice retail
BCom, CPE, LPC
Appointed 2004

Shirley joined the group in 2001, overseeing the credit and operations division, as well as all marketing activities. She was appointed deputy chief executive officer in 2006 and to her current position in 2007. Prior to joining the group she was a fund manager at Mercury Asset Management (SA) and Fleming Martin (SA).

Annalize Kirsten (43) - Chief financial officer for the group and chief operating officer of HomeChoice retail
BCompt (Hons), CA(SA)
Appointed 2002

Annalize joined the group in 1999 and was appointed financial director in 2002. She is responsible for the group's finance and information technology, as well as the retail operations. Annalize was deputy chief operating officer before being appointed to her current position in 2007. She was previously with PricewaterhouseCoopers and a company involved in grain trading.

John Bester (65) - Lead independent director
BCom (Hons), CA(SA)
Appointed 2009
Chairman of audit and risk committee and member of remuneration committee

John spent 16 years in the accounting profession and was a partner of Ernst & Young. His experience in commerce and industry includes serving as the financial manager of Toyota Marketing South Africa, financial director of Warner Lambert South Africa, financial director and chief financial officer of the Norwich Holdings Limited Group of Companies. He is currently a non-executive director of Personal Trust International, Clicks Group, Sovereign Foods and Western Province Rugby, and chairs a number of audit committees.

Willem Jungschläger (55) - Independent non-executive director
BA (Hons), PhD
Appointed 2009
Chairman of remuneration committee and member of audit and risk committee

Willem has over 30 years’ experience as a human relations and human performance specialist. For the last 20 years he has consulted to and trained large organisations, both nationally and internationally, in the retail, electricity, mining and transport industries. His experience includes serving as HR director of the Laser Transport Group, senior psychologist at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and training officer for the Ford Motor Company.

Amanda Chorn (53) - Independent non-executive director
BA, LLB, LLM
Appointed 2005

Amanda is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa and currently resides in the United Kingdom where she is a director of various companies. Amanda provides consultancy services to private clients, specialising in international structuring.

Pierre Joubert (46) -Non-executive director
BCom, CA(SA)
Appointed 2009
Member of the audit and risk committee

A chartered accountant by profession, Pierre has served in senior positions in several companies. These include financial director of Reumech Equipment, commercial director of the Connection Group, financial director of Software Connection Limited and chief executive of Connection Group Holdings. In 2002 he joined Rand Merchant Bank as a senior equity transactor and is currently head of equities trading.