Board & Leadership
Driving Excellence in Education
Our Board of Directors has a wealth of experience across various industries, providing expert guidance to ensure ADvTECH remains at the forefront of private education.
Our leadership is committed to fostering innovation, upholding governance best practices, and driving sustainable growth in the education sector. They play a critical role in overseeing ADvTECH’s strategic direction, corporate governance, and long-term sustainability, with our leadership structures fostering innovation, upholding governance best practices, and driving sustainable growth in the education sector.
Board of Directors
Alexandra Watson (68)
Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BCom (Hons), CTA, CA(SA)
Appointed
2022
Committee Membership
Chair of the Nominations Committee
Member of the Remuneration Committee
Member of the Transformation, Social and Ethics Committee (TSEC)
Strategic Value Contribution
Finance and investment banking
Accounting
Risk management
Auditing
Alex was involved in accounting education for an extended period at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and more broadly in the accounting profession and following her early retirement is now an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at UCT. She chairs the JSE’s Financial Reporting Investigations Panel (FRIP). She was a board member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an Amsterdam based multi-stakeholder organisation focused on impact reporting. Her role as an adjudicator on EY’s Excellence in Reporting awards since its inception and various other roles in the development of corporate reporting has provided her with deep insight into corporate reporting.
Geoff Whyte (58)
Executive Director, Group Chief Executive Officer
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Qualifications
MA (Economic Science), University of Aberdeen
Appointed
2024
Committee Membership
Member of the Investment and TSEC Committees.
Strategic Value Contribution
Strategy, marketing, business development and general management
International commerce and management
Transformation and leadership development
Geoff holds a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and has more than 30 years’ experience across various industries. He is a commercially focused business leader with executive experience in global organisations including Unilever, PepsiCo, Cadbury-Schweppes, SAB-Miller and Nando’s. Geoff has a record of success in a wide variety of geographies including South Africa, the UK, the USA, Holland, the rest of Africa, the Middle East and sub-continental India.
Dr Jacqueline Chimhanzi (51)
Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BSc (Hons), MBA, PhD (Cardiff)
Appointed
2017
Committee membership
Chair of the TSEC Committee and member of the Audit and Risk committee.
Strategic value contribution
Strategy development and Execution
Marketing
Business Development
African Enterprises
Jackie is the Regional Director for Southern Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) helping political leaders and governments deliver. She has over 20 years of experience in strategy as both a practitioner and academic. Prior to this, she was the CEO of the African Leadership Institute focused on cultivating a new generation of African leaders, in partnership with Oxford University. She has worked for the IDC as Senior Strategist and as Strategy Lead at Deloitte Consulting. She was instrumental in setting up the Deloitte Africa Desk and advised clients on accessing opportunities across Africa. She was recognised by Forbes Africa magazine as one of Africa’s Youngest Power Women in 2012. She currently serves on the board of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and chairs the board’s ESG Committee and was previously a member of the World Economic Forum’s Africa Regional Strategy Group, a member of the ONE Campaign’s global board and its Africa Policy Advisory Board.
Sybile Lazar (66)
Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
Certified Public Accountant (Chartered Accountant)
Maîtrise de Sciences Financières et Comptables (MBA equivalent, major in Finance and Accounting) from the University of Paris-Dauphine, France
Appointed
2021
Committee Membership
Member of the Nominations and Investments Committees
Strategic Value Contribution
Investment Banking
International Finance
Finance Risk Management
Private Equity
Governance
Strategy and Leadership
Merger and Acquisitions
Sybile is an experienced senior management executive with extensive experience in leadership positions in investment banking and international finance in emerging markets. Some of her experience includes holding positions such as associate director at the International Finance Corporation, Washington D.C., USA; senior vice president at Société Générale, Investment Banking, Paris, France; investment officer at Inter-American Investment Corporation Washington, D.C., USA and consultant for The World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA.
Hannes Boonzaaier (51)
Executive Director, Group Chief Financial Officer
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Qualifications
BCom (Hons), CTA, CA(SA)
Appointed
2025
Committee Membership
Member of the Investment Committee
Strategic Value Contribution
Finance and Investment Banking
Accounting
Risk Management
Auditing
Corporate Financing
Corporate Governance
Mergers and Acquisitions
Financial Management and Commerce
Hannes is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He was previously Group CFO at AfroCentric and a senior manager at KPMG, where he completed his Articles. He holds a BCom (Hons) from the University of Pretoria, a CTA from UNISA, and qualified as a CA(SA) in 2000. Hannes has received multiple industry accolades, including the CFO Transformation and Empowerment Award (2019) and awards for best integrated audit reports in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Daniel Smith (53)
Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
B.Acc (Hons) (Wits), H.Dip Tax (Wits), CA(SA)
Appointed
2025
Committee Membership
Member of the Nominations, Investment and Remuneration Committees
Strategic Value Contribution
Finance and investment banking
Accounting
Risk management
Auditing
Alex was involved in accounting education for an extended period at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and more broadly in the accounting profession and following her early retirement is now an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at UCT. She chairs the JSE’s Financial Reporting Investigations Panel (FRIP). She was a board member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an Amsterdam based multi-stakeholder organisation focused on impact reporting. Her role as an adjudicator on EY’s Excellence in Reporting awards since its inception and various other roles in the development of corporate reporting has provided her with deep insight into corporate reporting.
Stewart van Graan (69)
Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BCom (Hons) Information Systems
Appointed
2024
Committee Membership
Member of the Nominations and TSEC Committees
Strategic Value Contribution
Information Communication and Technology
Strategy and Business Management
Risk Management and Governance
Business Management
Stewart has in excess of 35 years’ experience in the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) industry as well as cross-functional knowledge and business management expertise which he gained across expansive geographies and multi-cultural environments with a strict adherence to corporate governance and ethical leadership.
Harvey Christophers (56)
Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BA (Hons) (University of Nottingham, Scotland) CA(UK)
Appointed
2025
Committee Membership
Member of the Audit and Risk, Investment and Remuneration Committees
Strategic Value Contribution
Education and Academia
Corporate Governance
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Human Resources
Mergers and Acquisitions
Risk Management
Transformation and Diversity
Strategy and Business Development
International Business and Education Exposure
Finance, Commerce and Investment Management
Harvey is a UK Chartered Accountant with a BA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Nottingham. He brings extensive global business and transformation leadership experience after a 32- year career with Deloitte across the UK, SA, Australia and the Netherlands firms having held senior executive and board roles. He has served the Higher Education industry working with a number of Universities as well as led Deloitte services to large listed organisations like Sanlam Limited, Ahold Delhaize and others.
Jesmane Boggenpoel (51)
Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BCom, BAcc (Wits), CA(SA),
Masters in Public Administration (Harvard University, John F Kennedy School of Government)
Appointed
2025
Committee Membership
Member of the Audit and Risk Committee (Effective, 1 January 2026)
Investment Committee and Remuneration Committee
Strategic Value Contribution
Education and Academia
Corporate Governance
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Mergers and Acquisitions
Risk Management
Transformation and Diversity
Strategy and Business Development
International Business and Education Exposure
Finance, Commerce and Investment Management
Information Communication and Technology
Jesmane is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of the Witwatersrand. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s, John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of private equity firm AIH Capital. She currently serves on the boards of Spur Corporation, Boxer and MTN SA. She has more than 16 years’ experience of serving on corporate boards, including roles on audit and finance committees and brings a wealth of experience in finance, corporate risk and governance. She was recognised as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2013 and selected as a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader in 2022.
Keith Warburton (66)
Lead Independent Non-Executive Director
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Qualifications
BCom, CTA (UCT), CA (SA)
Appointed
2015
Committee Membership
Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and Member of the Investment Committee
Strategic Value Contribution
Commerce and Corporate Management
JSE Listed Entities and Corporate Governance
Investment Management
Mergers and Acquisitions
Strategy and Business Development
Keith is a Chartered Accountant (SA) who has over 30 years’ experience in business and commerce and has held various executive management positions with several JSE Listed entities since qualifying as a chartered accountant at Arthur Andersen. Besides his experience in retailing and wholesaling, he also has experience in corporate finance as well as the steel and manufacturing industries. He worked for Clicks Group Ltd as chief financial officer and then as chief operating officer.
Chantell Crouse
Company secretary, Head of Legal
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Appointed
2021
The company secretary provides the directors, both collectively and individually, with guidance as to their duties, responsibilities and powers and the impact of legislative and regulatory developments impacting the group.
The company secretary is independent and has unrestricted access to the board. An arm’s length relationship exists between the company secretary and the board. The company secretary is not a member of the board but attends board meetings as part of the discharge of the company secretary’s functions and maintains records of meetings.
The board is satisfied that the company secretary has the necessary qualifications, skills and level of competence necessary to effectively discharge her responsibilities and is a fit and proper person.
Leaderships Structures
