African Rainbow Capital’s Co-CEO Johan van Zyl also serves on the boards of Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Capital Markets, and Sanlam Employee Benefits as a non-executive director.
Johan van Zyl completed a Master in Income Tax (University of Pretoria, South Africa) and a M Phil Finance (Cambridge University) after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. The Harvard Graduate School of Business’ Advanced Management Program and Insead’s Challenge of Leadership both saw him participate and graduate.
At Investec Asset Management, Johan van Zyl started in 1997 as the Head of Resources before being promoted to Global Sector Head of Resources a year later. He was also a member of Investec Asset Management’s board of directors and executive committee.
Sanlam Investment Management named him CEO in 2002. As of May of 2003, van der Merwe served as CEO of the Investment Cluster, which encompassed all of Sanlam’s investment operations. Additionally, he was in charge of Sanlam Capital Markets in 2005 and Sanlam Employee Benefits in 2007.
Johan van Zyl is a very keen swimmer and sports enthusiast.
Van der Merwe and his wife, Edna, have a daughter and two sons. They live in Stellenbosch.
Johan van Zyl (61) is Sanlam Chairman. He has a PhD (Economics) and DSc (Agriculture)
Sanlam and Sanlam Life committee membership:
Risk & Compliance Committee, Human Resources & Remuneration Committee, Non-executive directors.
Major external positions, directorships or associations:
African Rainbow Capital, Ubuntu-Botho Investments, a Council member of the University of Pretoria, WWF SA, Chairman of the Vumelana Advisory Fund.
Fields of expertise:
General Management; Insurance