People

New appointments

Clough has appointed John Smith CEO with effect from 1 August 2007.

John is an engineer with 30 years of deep international experience in the oil & gas contracting industry, having held a succession of engineering, project management and general management positions in the UK, Norway and Australia. Lately, he has been involved in leading the strategic process to the formation of Subsea7 and was CEO of that company for the first two years of its existence.

John has demonstrated strong operational and strategic leadership of contracting organisations similar in size and complexity to Clough. Clough is determined to grow its business, particularly in the oil & gas sector and John’s strong industry knowledge will be a major asset to that process.

John Cooper, former Clough CEO, will continue with Clough as a company director

Gerald (Ged) Evetts has joined the Murray & Roberts corporate office executive team to play a role in the Group’s positioning in South Africa’s significant power generation investment programme.

Ged has 40 years of experience in the engineering and contracting industry in South Africa and the UK. He joins us from the Babcock Group where he has been involved for the past 30 years in various aspects of the power sector, including engineering, construction and project management and maintenance services.

Ged will work primarily with Malose Chaba and the operating companies engaged in the programme, to ensure a clear understanding of the resource and performance requirements for our professional involvement.

Jerome Govender has been appointed by the shareholders of Bombela Concession Company as CEO. Jerome was previously MD of Murray & Roberts Concessions and transfered to Bombela from 1 July to succeed Denis Bouvette, whose contract as CEO ended on 31 August 2007.

Bombela holds the R25 billion twentyyear concession to build and operate the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link for Gauteng Province. This is the world’s largest PPP infrastructure project under construction at present.

Jerome has committed for a period of at least five years covering the full implementation period and commissioning of the system. He has an MBA to complement his Quantity Surveying professional qualification and extensive experience in private practice, concession management and the public sector.

Vaneshree Naidoo (33) was appointed MD of Murray & Roberts Concessions with effect from 1 July 2007. Vaneshree started her career in Murray & Roberts on an engineering bursary and joined Genrec in 1997 after qualifying with a BSc (Hons) (Mech Eng).

In 1999 Vaneshree was awarded a scholarship for advanced production engineering and management training in Germany. On her return in 2000 she was assistant project manager on the Muskeg River Oil Sands structural steel supply contract and subsequently project engineer on the Mozal II potshell fabrication project.

In 2002, Vaneshree transferred to Murray & Roberts Concessions where she has played a key role in many aspects of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link project from bidding through to financial close.

Yunus Karodia (35) was appointed to the dual corporate executive positions of group financial manager and company secretary with effect from 1 April 2007.

Yunus completed his articles with PricewaterhouseCoopers and joined Murray & Roberts in 1999 following which he spent three years as financial manager at Murray & Roberts International based in Dubai. He transferred back to South Africa in 2002 to join the Murray & Roberts Concessions leadership team and was appointed financial director in 2005 and a director of the N3 and N4 concession company boards. Yunus is a trustee of the Letsema Vulindlela Black Executive Trust.

Lee Cochrane was appointed MD of Rocla and its subsidiary companies with effect from 1 July 2007. Rocla is one of our Group’s most valued companies, with operations across Southern Africa.

Lee joined Murray & Roberts as a financial executive 10 years ago and has been tasked with a number of executive responsibilities over the years, most recently as MD of Harvey Roofing.

Judy van Es joined Murray & Roberts on 1 June 2007 as GM of Harvey Roofing. Judy is a lawyer and admitted attorney with a proven record of business experience in manufacturing, rental, trading and corporate matters in both the logistics and property development sectors.