Dawie de Villiers appointed CEO of Sanlam Employee Benefits

Johan van der Merwe, chief executive of Sanlam Investments (SI) - the cluster of investment businesses of which SEB forms part - said he was delighted with this appointment. "It is extremely pleasing to have found the best possible candidate for the job from within our business. Dawie brings with him a deep understanding of both the investments and employee benefits industries and a strong grasp of the markets in which Sanlam operates.

"Dawie has led Sanlam Structured Solutions (SSS) since its inception and has achieved many successes. For example, he was instrumental in turning the SEB Annuities and Smoothed Bonus products into serious category competitors."

Leadership credentials very highly regarded

Van der Merwe said that De Villiers' leadership credentials are very highly regarded within SEB and SSS and also across the broader Sanlam Group. "Dawie has demonstrated that he can build a unified team of people who really want to work with him. He will continue as CEO of SSS, but with a view to transferring some strategy execution functions to key members of his SSS Executive team."

De Villiers is an actuary who joined Sanlam in January 1993.He has held various positions in the investment, life insurance, investment banking and employee benefits areas of the organisation. A graduate of the University of Stellenbosch with a BSc in Statistics, De Villiers is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He is also a key force behind SEB's annual Benchmark survey, the retirement fund industry research study.

This appointment means that Robert Roux, who has led SEB over two separate phases since December 2007, will now give more intensive focus to his roles as CEO of SI International and COO of SI. "Robert took on SEB at a difficult time in its history and has made a seminal contribution to its development into a highly competitive force within the South African employee benefits landscape," said Van der Merwe.