Larry Riddle

BCom, BAcc (Hons), CA(SA)
Independent Chairman of the Board

Member of Agricultural, Audit and Human Capital Committees

Appointed to the board: April 2019

Larry previously held the positions of Commercial Director and Group Corporate & External Affairs Director of Illovo Sugar Africa. Larry also played a key role in looking after the Illovo Joint Ventures and Associate companies in the Group, including Gledhow Sugar Company and Glendale Distilling Company. He is a past Chairman of the South African Sugar Millers’ Association and the Ethanol Producers’ Association of South Africa.

Richard Chance

BA LLB, CSEP (Columbia)
Independent Non-executive Director
Risk Committee Chairman, Social and Ethics Committee Chairman

Member of the Audit, Human Capital and Social and Ethics Committees

Appointed to the Board: July 2015

Richard is the Founder and Executive Director of Altor Africa (Pty) Limited, which is a Company that engages primarily in animal and human nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. He previously was a practicing attorney prior to joining SA Breweries, where he held various executive positions in his career. He has also consulted to several prominent companies.

Tim Crookes

M Agric Mgt cum laude
Independent Non-executive Director

Member of the Agricultural and Risk Committees

Appointed to the Board: July 2015

Tim has significant personal farming interests and serves as Managing Director of Ellingham Estate. Tim is a former manager of the Banana Growers Association of South Africa, with the exception of Crookes Brothers, he also currently serves as a member of several SA Cane Growers structures and as a grower nominee on Illovo’s Sezela Mill management committee.

Tim Denton

Non-executive Director
Chairman of the Agricultural Committee

Member of the Risk Committee

Appointed to the Board: November 2012

Tim is Head of Agricultural Research for SilverStreet Capital, a London-based investment management business focused on the agricultural sector in Africa. He has extensive experience in the management of large commercial farms in Africa, including the development of greenfield sites and out-grower schemes.

Farzanah Mall

CA(SA)
Independent Non-executive Director

Chairperson of the Audit Committee

Member of the Risk and Social And Ethics Committees

Appointed to the board: November 2021

Farzanah serves as a Nonexecutive Director at Tsogo Sun Gaming Limited. She has considerable finance experience having worked for three of the big four auditing firms and held numerous senior leadership roles. She had a long career at KPMG where she was a Director for 10 years in advisory practice and ultimately served on the KPMG South Africa board. Her experience also includes lecturing postgraduate managerial accounting and finance and working for Coles Myer Limited in Melbourne, Australia.

Gary Vaughan-Smith

BSc, MPhil, FIA
Non-executive Director

Member of the Human Capital Committee

Appointed to the Board: November 2012

Gary is the Chief Investment Officer of SilverStreet Capital, a London-based investment management business focused on the agricultural sector in Africa. Before this, he worked at Gartmore Investment and ABN AMRO, both based in London.

Thembi Xaba

MPhil, PhD
Independent Non-executive Director

Chairperson of the Human Capital Committee

Member of the Agriculture Committee

Appointed to the Board: April 2020

Dr Thembi Xaba has established herself in the field of development economics as an executive and as an authoritative source in agriculture and development finance. Thembi has gained more than 20 years’ experience in the agricultural sector, with mandates delivering on food security, agricultural financing and investment promotion programmes.

She is the former CEO of the Deciduous Fruit Development Chamber (DFDC-SA), and currently the Managing Director for Digital Earth Africa, leading an Earth Observation Program and a team in Africa. Dr Xaba holds a PhD in Business Management Administration and an MPhil in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business School respectively. In addition, she also possesses post graduate qualifications in Agriculture and Economic Policy and serves on various boards in the industry

Nigel Naidoo

BCom, BAcc (Hons), CA(SA)
Group Chief Financial Officer

Member of the Risk and Social and Ethics Committees

Joined the Board: May 2021

Prior to joining Crookes Brothers, Nigel was employed as a Financial Manager at Grindrod and worked as a Senior Consultant at PwC in the firm’s Durban and London offices. Nigel has been with Crookes Brothers since January 2014, and previously served as the company’s Group Financial Manager.

Kennett Sinclair

BCom, BAcc (Hons), CA(SA), CFA
Group Chief Executive Officer

Member of the Agricultural, Risk, Social and Ethics Committees

Appointed to the Board: August 2019

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Kennett was a partner at EXEO Capital. Kennett is a CFA charter holder and a chartered accountant and holds a honours degree in Accountancy. He has over 18 years of experience in asset management, auditing, finance and operational management and corporate finance and private equity.

Kennett Sinclair

BCom, BAcc (Hons), CA(SA), CFA
Chief Executive Officer

Date joined: 2019

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Kennet was a partner at Exeo Capital. Kennett is a CFA charter holder and a chartered accountant and holds a Honours Degree in Accountancy. He has over 19 years of experience in asset management, auditing, finance and operational management and corporate finance and private equity.

Nigel Naidoo

BCom, BAcc (Hons), CA(SA)
Chief Financial Officer

Date joined: 2014

Prior to joining Crookes Brothers, Nigel was employed as a Financial Manager at Grindrod and worked as a Senior Consultant at PwC in the firm’s Durban and London offices. Nigel has been with Crookes Brothers since January 2014, and previously served as the Company’s Group Financial Manager

Rory Niven

BCom :Finance and Business
Chief Operations Officer

Date joined: 2019

Rory has over 20 years of commercial primary agriculture experience. During this time Rory has held various senior positions in production and processing that range across different fresh fruit Groups.

In addition to pure production positions Rory has spent a large amount of this time identifying, valuating and purchasing strategic inorganic growth opportunities to add scale and synergy to those existing primary production companies.

Lisa Pretorius

BTech: Management
Group Human Resource Executive

Date joined: 2009

Lisa has more than 30 years human resource generalist experience and has worked in a number of different industries during her career. Prior to her appointment at Crookes Brothers, Lisa has held senior executive positions at Shell and Toyota Tsusho.

Lisa has specialist knowledge in the areas of wage negotiations, labour relations, grading and employee benefits.

Barto Van Der Merwe

Professional Structural Engineer
Managing Director of Renishaw Property Developments

Year joined: 2021

I was born in Bloemfontein but grew up in Cape Town and am a Professional Structural Engineer by profession. I have lived and worked in Cape Town, Pretoria, England and Ireland (which is where I met my wife). When I came back from Ireland, I managed my own engineering practice in Cape Town for about 7 years, before it was bought out by a large international design consultancy.

I worked myself up in that business, and for the 3 years before moving to Crookes Brothers, I was leading their Buildings Business for Africa, including South Africa. I was responsible for managing a team of engineers and architects, designing large multi-disciplinary projects for corporations like Amazon and Heineken, as well as all the South African parastatals.

So, in a nutshell, I have worked in the construction industry as a consultant for the past 27 years, providing multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering services to clients from all over the world, and through that developing a good understanding of the industry as a whole. In July of 2021, very unexpectedly, I was presented with an opportunity to join Crookes Brothers, leading their Property Development Company, Renishaw Property Developments, as a Property Developer. In other words, working as what I previously would have termed a “client” and “on the other side of the fence”. Learning about the exciting things that CBL and more specifically, Renishaw Properties was planning, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands

Erlendur Erlendsson

Diplima Agricultural Cedara
Regional General Manager Sugarcane

Year joined: 1995

Elli brings over 34 years of experience in general irrigated farm management and production, with a specialization in sugarcane and additional expertise in banana production. During his tenure managing CBL Mpumalanga operations, he developed significant skills in overseeing CBL Joint Ventures. Notably, he served as a director at Mthayiza (Libcro) any played a key role in establishing and managing Mawecro Farming. Elli has a strong interest in irrigation, mechanical systems, and land preparation, further enhancing his comprehensive farming expertise.

Jaco Badenhorst

Diploma Plant Production
General Manager – Sub Tropical Fruit

Year joined: 2004

Tiaan Viljoen

National Diploma Plant Production
Regional General Manager

Year joined: 1990

Tiaan joined CBL in April 1990 and has extensive agricultural experience. He has managed the following crops during his tenure at CBL, sugarcane, bananas, citrus and macadamias. Promoted to MD of Murrimo Macadamias Limitada in 2019 and Senior General Manager at CBL. Tiaan has served boards of agricultural related businesses. Prior to Crookes Brothers Limited Tiaan spent 3 years with Lowveld pioneering company HL Hall and Sons. Tiaan has gained 37 years of agricultural and management experience.