Trading places

● Global professional services firm Aon has appointed Nolwandle Mgoqi as CEO for South Africa.

She has held various executive roles in the financial services sector, including CEO of Standard Insurance and head of insurance for Standard Bank SA. Before, she was head of short-term insurance strategy development and implementation at Liberty Group, executive head of strategic services at Stanlib and head of network solutions at Santam. She has a BA from Smith College in Massachusetts, an MSc from Howard University in Washington DC, and a PhD from the University of California.

● KFC has appointed Akhona Qengqe as general manager for Africa. She is the first black woman to hold this position and replaces Dhruv Kaul, who is moving into a general manager role for KFC Pan Europe.

Qengqe has worked in a range of industries — petroleum, property, marketing, operations and convenience retail. She has also served as the chair of the board of the Franchise Association of South Africa.

She started with KFC in 2015 as development director, went on to lead the brand’s equity, inclusion and belonging agenda and was then promoted to chief people officer for KFC Africa in 2020.

More recently, she was appointed as chief development officer.

● Professor Lee Berger has been appointed as National Geographic explorer in residence, but will remain at Wits University as an honorary professor.

He will continue to conduct research and supervise graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at Wits.

Berger, a Wits graduate who studied under professor Phillip Tobias, holds a PhD and a doctor of science degree in palaeoanthropology. His contribution to the exploration sciences has resulted in advances in the field of applied exploration methods and the application of technology to exploration, excavation and discovery.

“We wish professor Lee Berger well on the next step in his expedition,” said professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Wits vice-chancellor and principal.