He was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2020 and re-elected in 2023 to represent the table grape industry. He is a table grape farmer from Saron farming with both conventional as well as organic table grapes. He is often invited as a guest speaker to speak about organic farming at both local and international conferences and has won numerous awards including Toyota New Harvest of the Year Award and the New Entrant Category at the Agricultural Writers SA National Awards. He serves on the Board of the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) and has a National Diploma in Marketing and Sales Management (Peninsula Technicon) as well as experience in retail management. Furthermore, he completed SATI’s Modular programme in table grape production.
She was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2020 and re-elected in 2023 to represent organised agriculture. She has wide experience in the poultry industry, gained in a career spanning over two decades; and has held several influential positions. She has worked with various animal health organisations and veterinary services in South Africa and the United Kingdom; held positions at commercial poultry farms and at the South African Poultry Association, eventually becoming SAPA’s interim CEO and Senior Executive Eggs. She gained experience in non-profit organisations before joining the South African National Parks as the head veterinarian, and subsequently joined Kemin Industries as Marketing Director. She has served on the South African Veterinary Association Board, as a Councillor in the South African Veterinary Council, the National Animal Health Forum, Health and Welfare SETA as well as AgriSA. She holds a veterinary degree from the Medical University of Southern Africa and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Pretoria (GIBS), both in South Africa.
She was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2020 and re-elected in 2023 to represent the Pome and Stone industry. She has held various positions within the industry since she started her career over 20 years ago and has held the position of Group Operations Manager at HORTGRO since 2016. She has been involved with various industry transformation initiatives since 2009 including the tree planting project, CPAC and CASP Project Management, the DFDC Commercialisation Programme and Hortfin. She has served as a director of Philani Training and Development Solutions and as the Chairperson of the Commodity Project Allocation Committee, as well as a member of the AgriBEE Charter Council. She holds a B-Tech in Agricultural Management and a Masters in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of the Free State.
She was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 to represent the Processed Foods industry. She is currently employed as the General Manager of the South African Fruit & Vegetable Canners Export Council (SAFVCEC), as well as the Association (SAFVCA). She has served in various senior executive positions – spanning a career of more than 25 years in the Agro-Processing and Fine Foods Manufacturing sector. She is an active member on a number of strategic agri-business forums, namely DALRRD’s Agricultural Trade Forum (ATF), DTIC’s Team Export South Africa (TESA), Western Cape Government’s Agro-Processing Technical Forum and Market Access Work Group, as well as CPUT’s Advisory Council for the curriculum for Food Science. She also previously served two terms of office on the Board of the PPECB.
He was elected as a Member of Board in February 2023 to represent the Citrus industry. He has a wide range of experience in the areas of production, processing and packing facilities gained over 15 years. He spent the majority of his career with listed packaging company Mpact and in the FMCG environment with The Beverage Company. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Sundays River Citrus Company (SRCC) and has been with the company since 2018 where his areas of responsibilities include fruit volume supply planning, packhouse operations, quality and accreditations, engineering, cold storage, freight forwarding and export. He holds an Honours degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Pretoria University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from WITS Business School. He currently serves as Executive Director at Sundays River Citrus Company.
He was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 to represent the pome and stone industry. Currently the CEO of Hortfin, he has extensive experience in horticulture and has held positions in agricultural research, retail and development over the course of his career. He has also lectured 2nd and final year students in Horticulture and Environmental studies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). In addition, he has has served on a number of Boards in the public and private sectors. He is a qualified Horticulturist and holds a Masters degree in Agriculture Systems Management from the University of Stellenbosch.
He was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 to represent the subtropical industry. He currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association (Subtrop), which manages the affairs of the SA Avocado, Mango and Litchi Growers’ Associations. He has extensive knowledge of the avocado, litchi and mango industries having held several technical and management positions in industry associations over the past 27 years. He is a Director of the Fruit Industry’s umbrella body, Fruit South Africa, and chairs the Fruit Industry Value Chain Roundtable’s Trade Working Group. He holds an MSc (Agric) degree in Horticultural Science and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
He was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 to represent the marine industry. Founder and MD of the Nalitha Fishing Group, he has over 20 years of executive managerial experience in the food manufacturing and agriculture sector. He started his career in Pioneer Foods’ Agriculture and Baking Division in 1997 before moving to RCL Foods, Rainbow Chicken and later to the Baking Division of RCL. He also spent two years at Oceana Group Limited before founding Nalitha Fishing Group in 2017. He holds a BSc Agric (Honours) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
She was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 as the ministerial representative. She has over 38 years of work and leadership experience in the public, non-governmental and corporate sectors. She served as Director General of the National Department of Agriculture from 1997 to 2004 and was responsible for the development of and implementation of agricultural policy and programmes in South Africa, agricultural trade negotiations and agricultural projects within South African bilateral agreements. In addition, she previously served on several advisory panels and as a non-executive member on the Boards of various companies and NGOs both locally and abroad. Currently she sits on the Board of the Old Mutual Foundation, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa FARA where she Chairs the Nominations and Governance Committee and the Rhodes Food Group – where she chairs the Social and Ethics Committee. She holds a MSc Agric Ing degree as well as a postgraduate-diploma in Strategic Project Management. In addition, she holds Certificates in Agribusiness Finance for Non-Financial Managers, Monitoring and Evaluation in Programme Management, is a Fellow of the Inaugural Class of the Africa Leadership Initiative-South Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
She was elected as a Member of the Board in February 2023 to represent the citrus industry. With more than 15 years experience, she currently works in Compliance Management at Zebediela Fruits and represents the CGA-GDC. She has served on the Board of Bjatladi Zebediela Marketing Enterprise and holds a Degree in Marketing, a National Diploma in Human Resource Management and a certificate in Business Management.
Chief Executive Officer
He began his career at the PPECB in 2005 when he was appointed as Regional Service Manager for the Western Cape. In 2010 he was appointed as Manager to the PPECB's Project Management office, focusing on introducing a Project Management framework to manage strategic projects for the PPECB as well as coordinating Organisational Performance. In 2013 he took up the role of General Manager: Corporate Affairs before being appointed as the Chief Executive Officer in 2015. He holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Stellenbosch.
Chief Financial Officer
He joined PPECB in April 1997. He is also responsible for Internal Audit and serves on the Risk Committee of the PPECB.
Chief Operations Officer
He joined the PPECB as Programme Manager: Citrus in September 2004 and was later appointed as General Manager: Statutory Operations Coastal. In April 2016 Cyril assumed the role of Chief Operations Officer. He was previously employed as Assistant Director: Perishable Products at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Cyril holds a National Diploma in Food Technology from Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Chief Information Officer
Yanesh joined the PPECB on 1 November 2015 when she was appointed as the Chief Information Officer. With over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, Yanesh has built up a diverse set of technical and management skills while holding several senior positions across the financial services, retail, public and IT sectors. She graduated from the University of Witwatersrand with a BSc degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and also holds an MBA degree from Oxford Brookes University.
Human Resources Executive
She joined the PPECB in 2010 as an Organisational Development Manager and was promoted to General Manager: Human Resources in 2013. Pinki is a qualified social worker and holds an Honours Degree in Human Resources from the University of Johannesburg. Pinki has extensive work experience with welfare organisations and NGOs, as well as in the retail and financial sectors.