The vacancies arose with the appointment of Ishmet Davidson as Media24’s CEO from Monday, 1 October after Esmaré Weideman retired at the end of September.
"I am delighted that our talent pipeline is so strong that all the appointments could be made from within Media24. I look forward to working closely with all of them and wish them only the best as, together, we face exciting challenges ahead," says Davidson.
Rika Swart, general manager of On the Dot since 2016, will succeed Davidson as the CEO: Media24 Print Media. She holds a higher diploma in medical technology and an MBA from the USB; she joined OtD in 2008 as general manager of Imaging Data Solutions.
Since then, she has held various senior positions at OtD. Under her leadership, the division won the Media24 award for Best Performing Business in 2016 and 2017. Swart also received the company’s Hubert Coetzee Award for Outstanding Leadership in 2017.
Clement Singh, finance manager of Media24’s News division since 2016, has been appointed general manager of this division. He holds an MBA (cum laude) from Herriot Watt in Scotland.
Singh completed his articles at PwC and worked there as audit manager on the Media24 account until 2014. He then joined Media24 on the Apex management trainee programme before moving into various management roles in the News division, including that of acting general manager earlier this year.
Minette Ferreira, general manager of the Weekly Magazines division since 2014, is the new general manager of the Lifestyle division and will retain responsibility for the Weekly Magazines division. This follows the appointment of Raj Lalbahadur as Media24’s project management officer.
Ferreira holds a national diploma in journalism and has completed various executive management short courses.
She joined Media24 in 2001 as a sub-editor at the Daily Sun and was promoted to chief sub within a year, then to managing editor for the English News division in 2006, and general manager of Northern Newspapers from 2011.
Raj Lalbahadur, who will run Media24’s Project Management Office, holds a BComm from Unisa and an MBA from the New York Finance Institute.
He joined Media24 in 2007 as a senior financial manager after holding senior positions in, among others, the petroleum and paper manufacturing industries and SARS. He was appointed CFO: Lifestyle in 2009, acted as Media24’s CFO in 2015 and was appointed general manager: Lifestyle in 2017.
Beulah van Rensburg’s responsibilities as the HR manager for News and Lifestyle has been extended to the Digital division (24.com and Careers24), with the respective HR teams reporting to her.
Van Rensburg holds a BComm from NWU (Pukke) and joined Media24 as an HR generalist in 1998, working in the News division for many years. She was appointed News’ divisional HR manager in 2012 and the Lifestyle division was added to her portfolio in 2016.
In addition to these appointments, Media24 announced that its chief information officer, Tobie Vermeulen, will join the company’s exco as a direct report to the CEO. Vermeulen holds a BTech and obtained an MBL from Unisa.
He led the establishment of the IT Service Organisation at Media24 and has headed ITSO since 2015. Before that, he headed the IT function at OtD and the SAP Solution Centre.
For more information, visit www.media24.com. You can also follow Media24 on Facebook or on Twitter.