Pharmaceutical retailer Dis-Chem’s CEO Ivan Saltzman, who founded the company in 1978 with his wife Lynette, is stepping down from his position at the end of June after more than 40 years at the helm.
He will remain on board as an executive director and “an active member of the executive management team”, reports News24, with CFO Rui Morais, who was first announced as Saltzman’s successor by the group in August 2021, assuming the CEO position from 1 July. Morais has worked for the group for more than a decade.
Julia Pope, currently the executive head of finance, will take over as CFO.
The Saltzmans have grown the business from a single store to the largest retail pharmacy chain by market share in South Africa, with a network of more than 300 retail stores and more than 20 000 staff.
Saltzman said he was confident in, and supportive of the future leadership of the group, and had committed to divest 32.25m Dis-Chem shares owned by the family to Morais and a group of key senior executives.
The divestiture of what is an effective 3.75% interest is an incentive to ensure “their ongoing commitment”.
Saltzman made headlines last October last year when he called for a moratorium on the hiring of whites. And while Dis-Chem managed to walk itself back from this, in March this year the company admitted it had been dented by the controversy, estimating that it had lost between 5% and 8% of its white, coloured and Asian chronic medicine clients.
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