Eskom has appointed veteran South African IT leader Len de Villiers as its chief information and technology officer on a three-year contract.

The highly regarded De Villiers, who has previously served as CIO at Telkom, Absa and Nedbank, has more than 40 years of experience in IT management and – according to a statement by Eskom – is considered one of South Africa’s top CIOs.

“He has extensive experience in the financial services industry and [in leading] complex technology change projects and is expected to assist our business in embracing the pace of digitalisation, the use of artificial intelligence and increased levels [of focus] in areas [like] cybersecurity,” Eskom said.

In his many IT leadership roles over the years, De Villiers has served as group CIO of Nedbank (2003-2008), group CIO of Absa (2008-2012), group CIO of Telkom (2013-2018) and group CIO of the JSE (2018-2021). He has also mentored many IT leaders in South African business.

News of De Villiers’ appointment comes as Eskom CEO Dan Marokane moves to fill a number of vacancies at the state-owned electricity utility.

Marokane announced four senior leadership appointments on Thursday, including De Villiers. Three more will follow soon, the company said.

The new executive hires are aimed at “further addressing the current business challenges and futureproofing the organisation through the delivery of strategic initiatives to enable growth and long-term sustainability”, Eskom said in the statement.

New skills

“Eskom recognised that it needed to bring in some new skills at the executive level to guide its teams in the business so it can execute strategic initiatives in a competitive market faster, more efficiently and in areas which are new to the utility,” Marokane said.

The other three appointments are: