Senior Management

Kobus Verster - Chief Executive Officer

BCom degree, University of Potchefstroom, BCom Economics (Hons.) University of Pretoria, MBL University of South Africa (Unisa) Executive Management Programme, University of Virginia, USA.


Kobus has more than 20 years’ experience in the steel industry. He started his career at Iscor South Africa. He was chief financial officer and executive director of ArcelorMittal South Africa from February 2006 to August 2010. 
 
He played a broader strategic role within the company during that period. Prior to his appointment as chief financial officer, he was General Manager corporate treasury at Mittal Steel in Rotterdam and held various senior roles in financial management and treasury in Iscor. Then Kobus served on the board of Aveng Limited as chief executive officer from 11 February 2014 until 26 September 2017.

 

Gaurav Nagpal - Chief Marketing Officer

Bachelor of Engineering in metallurgy from the National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India

MBA in marketing, finance, strategy and economics, from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India.


Gaurav joined the ArcelorMittal Group in 2005 under the Business Leaders Programme and his first assignment was in the Sales and Marketing team in South Africa. His next role from 2006 was to support the newly formed Shared Services segment in the larger group to enable a fast tracked realization of the synergies from the merger between Arcelor and Mittal across transversal functions of global purchasing, IT, legal, BPOs, shipping and logistics. In 2009, Gaurav was appointed chief financial officer of ArcelorMittal Shipping, in charge of finance and strategy for ArcelorMittal Shipping and its logistics companies. He returned to ArcelorMittal South Africa in 2017 to take on the role of Group Manager, marketing, strategy and pricing.



Gaurav Nagpal
 

Hannes Nel - Chief Information Officer

Hannes Nel has been appointed to the role of Chief Information Officer as from1 May 2022 reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.


Hannes started his career at ArcelorMittal South Africa in 1999 as an engineer in the Rolling environment. After a period in Procurement as a Commodity Specialist, Hannes spent 15 years in various operational management roles in the Cold Rolling Environment and most recently oversaw the establishment of the Business Analytics function for ArcelorMittal South Africa.  
 

Hannes is a graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Pretoria and also holds an LLB degree (Unisa) and an MBA (NWU).  
 

 

Gavin Griffiths - Chief Financial Officer

Gavin is a chartered accountant and holds the following qualifications BComm (Acc), B Acc, M Comm (cum laude), CA (SA).

Gavin has over 20 years’ experience in various specialist, management and executive positions covering numerous financial disciplines including auditing, technical, controlling, deal advisory, business optimization and transformation, and strategy.



Gavin Griffiths
 

Werner Venter - Chief Technology Officer

Werner joined the company in 1987 as a bursary holder, graduating in electrical engineering at the North West University. He then started as an engineer-in-training at our Vanderbijlpark Works and has served in various managerial positions in different parts of the business. In his most recent roles, Werner has brought his extensive experience in hot and flat rolling to bear as the general manager of our Vanderbijlpark Works and the executive responsible for flat rolling operations. On the 1st January 2022, he was appointed as Chief Technology Officer.

 

Jacques Kotze - Chief Operations Officer

Jacques holds an engineering degree in Metallurgy as well as an MBA from Henley University.


Jacques has an extensive background with 20 years in the metals industry and has held various senior management roles with Columbus Stainless Steel in the technical, downstream as well as upstream areas of the business. He is currently upstream works manager at Newcastle and has been acting in the role of General Manager since June 2019. 
 

 

Paul Fouche - Chief Executive Officer, Thabazimbi Iron Ore Mine

 

Vusi Sampula - Chief Human Resources Officer

Vusi Sampula has 35 years’ experience in the Human Resource discipline. His career progression is reflective of his strength in Stakeholder Management, Communications, Employee Relations and Strategic HR Management. Vusi Sampula qualifications include a B. Tech in HR Management, an Advanced Diploma in Labour Law (GMIT), Executive Business Leadership and Development Programme (Wits Business School), Industrial Relations Certificate (Potchefstroom University), Associate in Management Certificate (UCT) and Strategic HR Management (Wits).  

                 

Tami Didiza - Group Manager, Stakeholder Management and Communications

Tamsanqa (Tami) Sydney Didiza is currently Group Manager for Stakeholder Management and Communication at ArcelorMittal South Africa based at its head office in Vanderbijlpark. He held the post of General Manager responsible for Communication at ArcelorMittal South Africa from 2005 to 2009 at a time when this company was Ispat- Iscor then migrated to Mittal Steel South Africa and subsequently ArcelorMittal South Arica. Tami re-joined the company on the 15 July 2019.Tami has been responsible for the stakeholder management portfolio ever since.

Before joining ArcelorMittal South Africa, Tami served as an assistant General Manager at Transnet from 1997 to 2005 responsible for all its communication function and served as a spokesperson for this company. Whilst at ArcelorMittal South Africa he was instrumental for the whole rebranding of the ArcelorMittal South Africa when the Mittal’s bought over Arcelor, a daunting task that was accomplished with ease. Both at Transnet and ArcelorMittal South Africa he was instrumental in crafting its stakeholder relations and communications strategies and overseeing the implementation thereof. He was also responsible for engaging both the communities and government thereby establishing good relations with these stakeholders.

From 1994 to 1997 he also served as a project manager at the South African Communication Service, a communications arm of the South African government. Whilst at the South African Communication Service he was seconded as a spokesperson to the then minister of housing. He also worked as a sales representative at Metropolitan.

Gaurav Nagpal
 

Suretha van Wyk – Senior Manager, Finance


Suretha is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and has 32 years of relevant experience and has been employed by ArcelorMittal South Africa for a combined period of 12 years in an auditing and statutory reporting capacity.

 

Sedick Achmat - General Manager, Coke Making

BEng Mechanical University of Cape Town (UCT), MBA UCT

Sedick joined ArcelorMittal, Saldanha Works on 1 December 2007. He gained experience in numerous positions since 2007 in engineering, human resources and operations including the positions of Manager Human Resources and Plant Manager Rolling at Saldanha Works.

 

Mohamed Adam - General Counsel and CoSEC

 

BA Law (University of Durban Westville), LLB (University of the Witwatersrand), LLM in International Trade Law (University of Essex - UK)

Joined ArcelorMittal South Africa in February 2015. Previously held various professional and management positions in Eskom.

 

Adinda Louw - Senior Manager, Global Assurance

BCom Accounting (Potchefstroom University), MAP (University of the Witwatersrand) EDP (Kellogg), MBA (North West University).

Joined ArcelorMittal South Africa in August 1993. She has held a number of managerial positions before being appointed as Group Manager, Internal Assurance, in 2008. Completed her articles at KPMG.

 

Dieter Sauer - Senior Manager, Health and Safety

Industrial Psychology degree (masters) University of North West, Management Diploma (Wits), Registered with the Health Professional Council of South Africa, (HPCSA), Qualified Electrical Artisan (Red Seal).    

Dieter Sauer is an industrial Psychologist with more than 33 years working experience, including expertise in health, hygiene, wellness, safety, risk management, environmental management and HR. He spent the last 16 years in various general management positions at ArcelorMittal South Africa. His previous positions include SHERQ Manager Vanderbijlpark works, HR Manager Vanderbijlpark Works and Gauteng HR Manager. Technical Supreintendent, Planner electrical and mechanical at Rolling Vanderbijlpark Works.      

 

Sebastien Begue - General Manager, Flat Steel Products, Downstream

Sebastien joined ArcelorMittal South Africa in 1990 as a bursary holder and was subsequently appointed as a Mechanical Engineer, after which he held several management positions. Between 2014 and 2021 he was the Works Manager for Hot Rolling and for Steel Making respectively. Sebastien has over 30 years of experience working in the steel manufacturing business and holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree and an MBA from the University of Potchefstroom.              


As the General Manager for Flat Steel Products, Downstream, he will be responsible for overseeing the operations of Steel Making, Cold Rolling, Hot Rolling, Quality Management and Supply Chain Management.  
 

 

Dhanveer Seepersad - General Manager, Iron Making

Dhanveer Seepersad has been appointed as General Manager for the Iron Making business unit of ArcelorMIttal South Africa as from 1 May 2022 and will report to the Chief Operating Officer.


Dhanveer started his career at ArcelorMittal South Africa in 2012 at the Steel plant in Vanderbijlpark and has since held specialist and management positions in the Iron Making business area including that of Metallurgical Engineer at the blast furnaces, Engineering manager at the Sinter Plant as well as Senior Manager responsible for Iron making in Newcastle.  
 

Dhanveer holds a BSc in Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand as well as an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand.  
 

                

Dietmar Schmidtke - General Manager, Long Steel

Dietmar Schmidtke joined ArcelorMittal South Africa as a bursary holder in 1998. He worked in the Flat Steel Business initially, but has been working in the Long Rolling business since 2006. Dietmar has held various Senior Management Positions since 2016 which include Plant and Works Manager positions in both the Rolling Environment as Well as Coke Making Operations.  

Dietmar holds a National Diploma in Information Systems (Engineering), BCom Degree and completed a MAP Qualification through Wits Business School.  

As the General Manager Long Steel Products, Downstream he will be responsible for overseeing the operations of Steel Making, Newcastle & Gauteng Rolling operations as well as the ArcelorMittal Rail and Structures Business in Emalahleni and Quality Management