Netcare has announced Melanie da Costa as its new CEO to replace incumbent Dr Richard Friedland, who retires at the end of the year after 30 years, reports News24.
Da Costa, who has been with Netcare for two decades and is currently its executive director of strategy and health policy, will start off as CEO designate on 1 June, after which she will work alongside Friedland for six months to ensure a smooth transition. She formally takes over as CEO on 1 January 2027, a day after Friedland retires.
Friedland was originally meant to retire on 30 September but agreed to stay on until the end of 2026. He will also serve as an advisor to the JSE-listed group’s board until 30 June 2027 on a consultancy basis.
Netcare Chair Alex Maditsi said Da Costa would bring “strategic acumen, commercial discipline, a growth mindset and a deep appreciation of the role that health technology and innovation play in driving differentiation and sustainable growth”.
“Over more than 20 years at Netcare, she has made an extraordinary contribution to the group, earning broad-based respect across the organisation and among its stakeholders. She is, without question, the right person to lead Netcare into the future.”
Da Costa holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master of Commerce from the University of SA (Unisa) and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She joined Netcare in 2006 to establish its health policy unit and has since played a key role in shaping national health policy through evidence-based engagement with policymakers and regulators.
She led Netcare’s acquisition of mental health provider Akeso and served as its managing director. She is a member of Netcare’s finance committee, serves on the National Renal Care Board and is a former Chair of the Hospital Association of SA (HASA).
She also spent six years as a fund manager at Liberty, starting in 1997.
End of a chapter
Meanwhile, Friedland’s retirement from Netcare, of which he was a co-founder, marks the closure of a chapter during which he built the hospital group into one of the biggest private healthcare providers on the African continent, which now employs more than 18 000 people.
He helped found several new divisions, including Netcare 911, Netcare Diagnostics and Netcare Plus.
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