SA Airways’ head of operations, Chris Smyth, is leaving the national carrier to take up the role of chief financial officer at a JSE-listed information and communications technology (ICT) company on 1 April.
See update below.
This has prompted speculation that Smyth will join Telkom as finance chief, replacing Peter Nelson, who stepped down from the telecommunications group last July. Telkom is the only large, listed ICT company without a full-time financial director.
Business Day newspaper on Friday reported that Smyth, who became acting CEO of the carrier in 2009 following the departure of Khaya Ngqula, would take up a chief finance role in the ICT sector. Ngqula was axed after being accused of financial mismanagement.
Smyth has been with SAA since 2006 and was the last remaining member of Ngqula’s original executive team.
SAA spokesman Fani Zulu says he is not in a position to say which company Smyth is joining. “It’s not information we can reveal to you because the company in question will want to make the announcement in its own time,” Zulu says.
News of key senior appointments at Telkom is expected soon. The group has been led in an acting capacity since the middle of last year by acting CEO Jeffrey Hedberg. However, Hedberg is leaving at the end of March after declining to apply for the top job on a permanent basis.
Since’s Nelson’s departure, the chief finance role has been occupied in an acting capacity by long-serving Telkom executive Deon Fredericks. — Staff reporter, TechCentral, with Sapa
Update: Ending the speculation, Pinnacle Technology Holdings has announced that Smyth is joining the JSE-listed technology group as its new chief financial officer and finance director.
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