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Key individuals
Together
our team boasts some 200 years’ experience in our field of business
and we look forward to servicing our clients well into the current
millennium.
Director
Charlotte Drayer, to our knowledge, is currently
the only person in Namibia holding the Higher Certificate in
Retirement Fund Administration, conferred by the Insurance Institute
of Southern Africa. She is another well-known person in our
industry and may justifiably be said to have pioneered pension
fund administration in Namibia. Her previous employer has often
complemented her as the most experienced and competent fund
administrator in Namibia. Her experience in the insurance industry
stretches back to 1985 and to 1987 in the pensions industry
more specifically. She joined UPA in 1988 as administration
manager and was later appointed to the board of UPA. She was
instrumental in setting up the Enongo Dependants Trust for UPA
and for establishing systems and procedures for other specialised
products of UPA. E-mail Charlotte Drayer
Director
Marthinuz Fabianus joined our
team ‘fresh from school’ in 1994. He holds the Certificate
Of Proficiency in Employee Benefits conferred by the Insurance
Institute of South Africa, the National Diploma (Commerce) from
Polytechnic of Namibia and a Diploma in Marketing Management
from Cyprus Institute of Marketing Management. On the basis
of his people management skills, Marthinuz was promoted to Administration
Manager and was subsequently also appointed a director of the
company. He has 12 years experience in the pensions field, having
worked his way right up from the bottom to fund administration
and technical consulting. He is probably one of very few Oshivambo
speaking persons who has acquired the skill of communicating
the sophisticated concepts of retirement funding in his mother
tongue. Marthinuz also served as president of the revived Retirement
Funds Institute of Namibia between 2005 and 2006. E-mail Marthinuz Fabianus
Director
Tilman
Friedrich is a qualified chartered accountant and one
of a few, if not the only, Namibian Certified Financial Planner™,
in the pensions field. He served his articles with Deloitte
& Touche in Windhoek and qualified as chartered accountant
in 1980. He was awarded the G H R Edmunds price in recognition
of his study achievements while studying part time through UNISA.
He was audit manager at the time of leaving Deloittes to join
what is now known as National Housing Enterprise (NHE) in 1982.
At NHE he was instrumental in establishing the operational framework
for this newly founded housing para-statal where he was eventually
promoted to assistant general manager responsible for administration,
finance, loans and personnel functions. He left NHE at the end
of 1990 to join UPA, initially as financial manager but soon
to be promoted to general manager and to the board. He was instrumental
in establishing the NamFlex funds and accounting practices for
defined contribution funds in Namibia. Tilman is co-founder,
shareholder and managing director of our company. E-mail Tilman Friedrich
Director
Mark Gustafsson
has been in the employee benefits field since 1987 and is known
as highly competent and dedicated consultant. After serving
for two years in the employee benefits legal services department
of SA insurer Southern Life in Cape Town, he joined UPA in 1989
as consultant. He was later promoted to client manager responsible
for a portfolio of more than 10 private funds, for the healthcare-
legal- and communication unit and for the NamFlex Funds (comprising
the first Namibian privately administered Retirement Annuity
Fund, Preservation Fund and the umbrella Pension Fund with in
excess of 55 Participating Employers). He also served as Principal
Officer of the NamFlex Funds and as alternate director of UPA.
Mark is co-founder, shareholder and director of our company.
E-mail Mark Gustafsson
Director
Harald
Müseler recently retired as Partner in the Assurance
Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He practiced as an
accountant and auditor from 1985 to 30 June 2006. He was involved
in providing audit, accounting and business advisory services
to clients ranging from middle market entities to large corporations
in Namibia, including subsidiaries of South African and other
international and SEC related clients. He was also responsible
for risk management and independence of the Namibian practice
of PwC. He is a past member of the Namibian firm’s Executive
and representative on the firm’s Southern African Governing
Board, and past Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the
firm’s retirement fund.
E-mail
E-mail Harald Müseler
The
team
Hannes
van Tonder joined our team in April 2004 to head up
and build our Benchmark Retirement Fund and to take charge of
special projects, systems and procedures on the basis of his
background. Hannes is well known and respected in the retirement
funds industry, having had his first exposure to this specialized
field as a member of our team in 1997. Hannes holds a B. Com.
Degree from Unam and a B. Com. (Hons.) degree from Unisa. Closer
to home, he holds the Intermediate Certificate in Business Studies
(retirement fund management) conferred by the Insurance Institute
of South Africa and has 7 years appropriate work experience.
He will be responsible primarily to build our Benchmark product
and to strengthen our systems, procedures and internal controls.
E-mail Hannes van Tonder
Joan
Böck, another ‘old face’ from the
‘UPA days’ joined us in the middle of February 2002,
having spent the past three year in senior capacity in the Namflex
department at Alexander Forbes, after joining its predecessor,
UPA in 1993 in the fund administration department. Joan holds
the Certificate of Proficiency of the Insurance Institute of
South Africa and applies all her skills, knowledge and dedication
to client servicing and fund administration of a portfolio of
demanding clients. E-mail
Joan Böck
Santhea
Brand (nee Grobler) joined us in the middle of February
2008. Some may remember Santhea from the days she worked at
Old Mutual Employee Benefits (1997 - 2003) where she finally
held the position of Senior Portfolio Administrator. At Old
Mutual she completed no less than 12 in-house courses and 6
Damelin courses. She left Old Mutual in February 2003 to join
Paramount Health Care (Nammed). She moved to Walvis Bay at the
end of 2003 only to return to Windhoek soon afterwards, where
she took up various part-time appointments with Wanderers, Namibia
Dairies and the US Embassy, while focusing on her musical career.
Client service is one of her strong points and she will be afforded
this opportunity as a member of our Benchmark administration
team and as our administrator responsible for our insured fund
clients. E-mail Santhea
Brand
Agnes Brockerhoff joined the team on 1 July 2008 from Windhoek Vocational Training Centre. She started her career as bookkeeper with Rehoboth Investment and Development Corporation in 1992. She was employed with them for almost 10 years before she moved to Windhoek and joined Grand Namibia as a senior bookkeeper. Before she joined Windhoek Vocational Training Centre in May 1998 she was employed by Welwitschia Insurance Brokers for a period of 18 Months. She brings with her many years of relevant accounting experience which was obtained through her 16 year of employment in an accounting environment as well as many short courses attended by her. E-mail Agnes
Brockerhoff
Bianca
Busch joined us in June 2007 from Allan Gray, where
she was responsible for portfolio administration, trading in
fixed interest instruments and client servicing. Prior to her
foray into asset management, Bianca worked for UPA as fund administrator
and bookkeeper for a period of 3 years. Bianca holds a Certificate
of Proficiency in fund administration and certificates in various
other related short courses. She has made out the pensions industry
as her field of interest and applies all her expertise and dedication
to serving members of the Benchmark Retirement Fund and Benchmark
brokers. E-mail Bianca
Busch
Lilia
Cabatana rejoined our team at the beginning of September
2005 having been in our employ for a short while before. Lilia
started her career with auditors KPMG in 1995 in the bookkeeping
department. She then moved into auditing where she completed
her articles and gathered 6 years’ experience, amongst
other audits, also in pension fund audits. She is about to complete
her B Compt degree through UNISA and still intends to obtain
the Chartered Accountant qualification. In her position as Manager:
Fund Accounting and Systems, she is responsible for fund accounting,
compliance and corporate governance enforcement within the company.
E-mail Lilia Cabatana
Petrus
Coetzee joined us in May 2007. Before his appointment
by the company he held the position of administration supervisor
in the Namflex department at Alexander Forbes. He holds a Certificate
of Proficiency in fund administration and various certificates
in other related short courses. Petrus is responsible for a
portfolio of Benchmark schemes and is earmarked to take over
full responsibility for this fund in time to come. He believes
that working for a truly Namibian company offers a more conducive
environment for serving our Namibian clients to their expectation
and total satisfaction. E-mail
Petrus Coetzee
Wilhelmien
Ellis made career change from education to the pensions
industry in 1991 when she joined UPA. She holds the Certificate
Of Proficiency and the Intermediate Certificate in Business
Studies (retirement fund management) conferred by the Insurance
Institute of South Africa. Her focus is on client service and
fund administration. She joined our team in February 2001. E-mail Wilhelmien Ellis
Ina Jooné, also a former
colleague, joined us in February 2007. Starting off in banking
and general administration, Ina eventually made out the pensions
industry as her career. Her new career commenced at UPA in 1996
where she learned the ropes of fund administration. She now
calls on 11 years experience in private fund administration
where she was responsible for some of the largest private funds
in Namibia at her previous employer. Ina has a passion to serve
and we believe that our team offers her the ideal environment
to realize this passion. E-mail
Ina Jooné
Ujama Karamatha joined the team on 1 May 2008 as receptionist. Ujama started her career as a waiter in the hotel industry, but was soon transferred to the front-office as receptionist. After 2 years she took up an administrative position at ITD where she was responsible for the day to day running of the office. After ITD closed the office in 2006 she started on a contract basis as a receptionist with De Beers Marine Namibia.
Anita
Keibib joined us on 1 April 2008 from Alexander Forbes.
Anita joined Alexander Forbes in 2001 and held the position
of fund accountant, being responsible for a portfolio of 15
funds. Prior to joining Alexander Forbes she worked for Namibia
Red Cross, von Lieres Entreprises and Telecom Namibia and Nampost
and can look back on 22 years experience in accounting and administration.
In the course of her working life she has completed numerous
short courses in computer literacy, bookkeeping and supervising.
Anita will strengthen the capacity of our fund accounting team. E-mail Anita Keibeb
Stefanus
Morris joins us in on 1 April 2008. Some may remember
Stefanus from the days he worked at Sanlam Employee Benefits
(1993 - 2001) where he finally held the position of Senior Fund
Administrator. Since leaving Sanlam, excepting a one year stint
in Cape Town, Stefanus was employed as Assistant Personnel Officer
in the Ministry of Regional, Local Government and Housing. At
Sanlam he was responsible for the administration of a portfolio
of some of its largest funds and was awarded the title of Best
Team Leader in 2001 and awarded for outstanding administrative
achievement in 1995. He completed various in-house courses,
external courses and workshops, one of which took him to Harvard
University in Boston, Massachusetts in 1998. Client service
is one of his passions and he will be afforded this opportunity
as a member of our Benchmark administration team. E-mail
Stefanus Morris
Esmé
Mouton joined us from Corporate Guarantee, where she
was employed as policy administrator at the beginning of October
2005. Prior to that, Esmé was employed in various capacities
in the employee benefits arena at Channel Life and Sanlam Namibia,
starting June 1998. She is responsible for a portfolio of insured
funds and Benchmark clients. E-mail
Esmé Mouton
Victoria Nashongwa joined us at the beginning of 2002
after a brief spell at the City of Windhoek. She has previously
been in the employ of Alexander Forbes and its predecessor UPA
since March 1997, and can call on considerable, relevant experience.
She is currently studying commerce at the Polytechnic of Namibia
and hopes to complete her diploma soon. Her focus is on client
service and fund administration. With her bookkeeping background
she will also be involved in this function. E-mail Victoria Nashongwa
Annemarie
Nel, yet another ‘old hand’ since 1997,
realized that she actually missed her former colleagues a lot
until she joined us on 1 August 2006 from Nedbank Namibia where
she served as financial analyst. Before that she was responsible
for the accounting function of a portfolio of pension fund clients.
Clearly her passion in life is figures and so she will once
again be responsible for the accounting function of a portfolio
of pension fund clients and related client servicing and interaction.
Annemarie holds two diplomas in accounting and bookkeeping and
closer to home, holding the Certificate of Proficiency (Retirement
Funds 1) and the Intermediate Certificate (Retirement Funds
2), she is well qualified and experienced to provide her clients
with exceptional service. E-mail
Annemarie Strydom
Zaskia Ochs completed a BCOMT degree through UNISA after she had obtained a Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting at the Polytechnic of Namibia. She started her career as an internal auditor at Swabou in 1999. After 4 years in the banking industry she joined BDO Spencer Steward as an Audit Clerk/ Senior. The family moved to the coast in 2006 and she took up a position as Financial Manager with the Corvima Fishing Company. With the birth of her baby last year she resigned from full-time employment to have more family time available. She join RFS on 1 October 2008 after the family decided that Windhoek is actually the place where they would like to stay. E-mail
Zaskia Ochs
Aliza Prinsloo joined us on 1 June 2008. Aliza had her first exposure to the industry directly after she matriculated in 1994. She started her career as fund administrator on the GIPF with Sanlam. She also obtained experience on some other funds that were administered by Sanlam. After the privatisation of the GIPF she moved to the banking industry for 2 years where she was employed by Bank Windhoek. The family moved to Lusaka, Zambia in 2002 and stayed there for almost 4 years. After their return to Namibia she was employed by Indigo Consulting (Pty) Ltd and by Light House Financial Services. E-mail Aliza Prinsloo
Rauha
Shivute, once again an ‘old’ colleague,
rejoined our team on 1 July 2002. Rauha obtained a B.A. (Business
Administration) from Thiel College in the US. She had her first
exposure to the pensions industry when she joined UPA in 1996
in the position of bookkeeper and brings along 10 years relevant
experience. She recently obtained the Certificate of Proficiency
in Insurance (retirement fund management) and is currently busy
with her Intermediate Certificate, and a Certificate in Financial
Management through UNISA. Rauha’s goal is to give all
our clients total peace of mind that their financial records
are under professional care. E-mail Rauha Shivute
Sharika
Skoppelitus also started her career at UPA in 1996,
‘fresh’ from university and joined us in March 2007.
Sharika holds a B Econ degree from Unam. She has acquired considerable
experience in retirement fund management, starting off in fund
administration from where she moved into consulting, serving
a number of prominent funds as client liaison and consultant.
She fulfills a similar role in her new position as client manager
and her resolve is to ascertain that our clients enjoy a seamless
and flawless fund management service for ‘rock solid fund
administration that lets the trustees sleep in peace’.
E-mail Sharika Skoppelitus
Salome Sloa rejoined the team on 1 October 2008. She joined the company for the first time on 1 May 2004 as a fund administrator. She left the company on 31 October 2005 to continue her career at Standard Bank Namibia. She gained valuable banking experience at Standard Bank, but after 3 years decided in the banking environment she realized that she preferred the pension fund industry above the banking industry. She rejoined as a fund administrator. E-mail Salome Sloa
Elbie
Taljaard joined UPA on 1 May 1992 where she was initially
involved on the fund bookkeeping side but later transferred
to fund administration. She has been involved in this field
of business ever since then and joined our company on a half-day
basis on 1 August 2001. Her previous experience covers general
clerical work in Government and the private sector of 5 years
and company secretarial work with local auditing firms of 3
years. E-mail Elbie
Taljaard
Maria Teixeira joined us on 1 June 2008. Maria was employed in various administrative capacities with the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement in the south. She believed in self development and completed many short business courses during her 8 years of employment. She returned to Windhoek in 2007 to and was self employed for a period before she joined our team. E-mail Maria Teixeira
Louis
Theron joined us on 1 March 2008. He is a Namibian,
born in Cape Town, but grew up on a farm in the south. He obtained
a B.Econ degree (in 1989) and a higher education diploma (in
1990) from UOFS. In 2003 he obtained an Honors Degree in Business
Administration from the University of Stellenbosch. Louis joins
us from Agribank where he was employed since 1992 working his
way up to the position of Manager Financial Services at the
time of his departure. Closer to home he served as trustee of
the Agribank Pension Fund for 11 years and represented Agribank
as director on various boards. Louis’ task is to relieve
our retirement fund experts of their management responsibilities
so that they can apply their knowledge and expertise for the
benefit of our clients.E-mail
Louis Theron
Caroline
Thomas joined us at the beginning of 2003 from Standard
Bank trust department where she gained extensive experience
in the management of trusts, a field closely related to the
pensions industry. Before joining Standard Bank she was employed
by Nammed, Old Mutual’s medical aid scheme, again in a
field closely related to our industry. She has bolstered our
capacity to offer an even better service to a number of privately
administered funds and to our Benchmark group clients. E-mail
Caroline Thomas
Hilde
Towe joins ‘old colleagues’ at the beginning
of June 2006 from Metropolitan. Hilde is an old hand in pension
fund administration having been a member of the old UPA team
where she joined in April 1992. She realized from the start
that she wanted to progress in life, and so became involved
in fund administration from April 1994 from ‘humble beginnings’.
Hilde is currently attempting to complete her grade 12 through
part-time studies. She will apply her experience and knowledge
to a portfolio of insured funds and Benchmark clients with an
intention to become involved in private fund administration
as soon as she has become accustomed to our administration environment.
E-mail Hilde Towe
Alida
Venter is another ‘old hand’ in retirement
fund administration who joined us at the beginning of November
2006 from Metropolitan, after Metropolitan closed down its fund
administration department. After 4 years in retail, she joined
UPA in January 1994 as bookkeeper. She later joined UPA’
fund administration department in June 1995 where she was responsible
for one of it largest funds. She left in August 2002 to join
Metropolitan as administrator of its private funds. She holds
the Certificate Of Proficiency conferred by the Insurance Institute
of South Africa and has obtained two of four required credits
towards the Intermediate Certificate (retirement fund management)
of the Institute. Alida is portfolio manager responsible for
a portfolio of Benchmark schemes and private funds. E-mail
Alida Venter
Frieda
Venter, another singularly experienced and qualified
Namibian with a focus on retirement fund accounting and financial
management stretching back to 1991, holds a banking related
Lib (SA) certificate, and ‘closer to home’, the
Certificate Of Proficiency and the Intermediate Certificate
(retirement fund management) conferred by the Insurance Institute
of South Africa. She joined our team in 2000 and has since been
exposed not only to accounting matters but also to fund administration,
handling a portfolio of funds in our Benchmark Retirement Fund.
She is responsible for providing accounting services to and
for exercising control of Benchmark Retirement Fund’s
financial records and reporting. E-mail Frieda Venter
Anna Willemse joined the team on 1 July 2008 from Agribank where she worked as a Senior Accountant. During her 16 years of employment with Agribank she gained extensive experience in almost all financial fields. Before joining Agribank she was employed by Standard Bank. She adds the necessary capacity to the finance team to ensure additional control over the records of Benchmark Retirement Fund. E-mail Anna Willemse
Office support
At the end
of February 2003, Lilly Boys, an old face from
days gone by, rejoined our team. After the traumatic experience
of retrenchment followed by a long but unsuccessful search for
alternative employment, Lilly knocked at our door in desperation,
at a good time. She is now responsible for all round office
services, management of deliveries and for our reception and
feels as if she had never been ‘out in the cold’.
And finally,
Drolina Röchter joined our team as permanent
employee effective 1 February 2005, after she had already been
in our employ as a casual worker for the previous year. Her
positive attitude, initiative, dedication and commitment towards
her job convinced us that she is of the right caliber to join
our team. Drolina takes pride in maintaining our offices in
a tidy state at all times and she attends to all sorts of out
of office errands in order to keep the wheels of our organization
turning. |