DIRECTORS

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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• Festus Hangula

  FESTUS HANGULA

  Festus Hangula has served as a Trustee of the Bank of Namibia Provident Fund, Bankmed Namibia Board of Trustees, Trustee and Chairman of FNB Namibia Pension Fund, Director and Chairman of NamClear, and member of Investment Committee of FNB Holdings. He has served various public institutions as an investment advisor. He has been employed as Treasurer of FNB Namibia, Commissioner of the Namibian Competition Commission and CEO of the Social Security Commission of Namibia. He currently holds the post of Chief Executive Officer of NamPost. He has an MBA in Finance jointly awarded by the Manchester Business School and the University of Wales in the UK.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

• Managing DirectorMarthinuz Fabianus

  MARTHINUZ FABIANUS

  Marthinuz Fabianus graduated from Namibian University of Science & Technology with a Diploma in Commerce and Bachelors in Business Management. He completed a senior management development programme at University of Stellenbosch and various short courses including a macro-economic policy course which he completed at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy. Marthinuz serves as trustee on the board of the Benchmark Retirement Fund and served two separate terms on the board of the Retirement Funds Institute of Namibia. Marthinuz also served as a Commissioner on the Social Security Commission from 2015-2017.

• Director (Chairman)Tilman Friedrich

  TILMAN FRIEDRICH

  Tilman Friedrich is a chartered accountant and a Namibian Certified Financial Planner® practitioner, specialising in pensions. He is a co-founder, shareholder, Chairman of the RFS Board, retired chairperson, and now a trustee of the Benchmark Retirement Fund..

• Director: Operations (Umbrella Funds)Günter Pfeifer

  GÜNTER PFEIFER

  Günter Pfeifer was the Principal Officer and a trustee of the Benchmark Retirement Fund for many years. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Cum Laude). Günter completed his articles with Deloitte & Touche in Windhoek. He completed the De Beers ‘Program For Management Development’ at Gordon Institute for Business Science and the Advanced Development Program at the London Business School. He was formerly the Financial Manager of De Beers Marine.

• Director: Operations (Private Funds)Kai Friedrich

  KAI FRIEDRICH

  Kai Friedrich, son of one of our founders, joined us in March 2013 from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Kai is responsible for our private fund administration and fund accounting functions. Kai matriculated at Delta Senior Secondary School. He then enrolled at University of Stellenbosch where he obtained a Bachelor of Accounting (Honours) in 2008. He served his articles with PricewaterhouseCoopers, qualified as Chartered Accountant (Namibia) at the beginning of 2012 and advanced to the level of audit manager. Closer to home, he enrolled at University of Free State where he obtained the Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning in 2013, an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Employee Benefits in 2014 and an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Investments in 2015. He holds certificates for completing various short courses over the past few years. He also serves on the Tax Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Namibia since 2016.

• Director: Client ServicesSharika Skoppelitus

  SHARIKA SKOPPELITUS

  Sharika Skoppelitus started her career in retirement funds management at UPA in 1996, ‘fresh’ from Unam with a B Econ degree, as a fund administrator. However, before she got too deeply involved in fund administration, her communication and people skills afforded her the edge to move into employee benefits consulting under the wings of Tilman Friedrich, general manager of UPA at the time, ending up as lead consultant on a number of the large clients of UPA. With the departure of Tilman following Alexander Forbes’ buy-out of UPA in 1999, Sharika was no longer comfortable in her new environment and took the first opportunity to find a new home when she joined her former UPA colleagues Marc Nel and Trevor Colmer in newly founded employee benefits consultancy, Elite consulting in 2006. In 2007 Sharika joined RFS as client manager and is today responsible for many of our largest retirement fund clients using her people and communication skills to the benefit of her clients. Over the years she progressed to head of client services, became a member of our executive committee and a director of the company in 2016.

• Associate Director: Support ServicesLouis Theron

  LOUIS THERON

  Louis Theron  joined us on 1 March 2008. Louis is responsible for company operations, covering IT, HR, company financial management and administration. He is a Namibian, born in Cape Town, but grew up on a farm in the south. He obtained a B Econ degree (in 1989) and a higher education diploma (in 1990) from UOFS. In 2003 he obtained an honours degree in business administration from the University of Stellenbosch. Louis joins us from Agribank where he was employed since 1992 working his way up to the position of Manager Financial Services at the time of his departure. Closer to home he served as trustee of the Agribank Pension Fund for 11 years and represented Agribank as director on various boards. Louis’ task is to relieve our retirement fund experts of their management responsibilities so that they can apply their knowledge and expertise for the benefit of our clients.

• Director (Ex Officio – RFS Staff Trust)Rauha Hangalo

  RAUHA HANGALO

  Rauha Hangalo started her career in retirement funds management as fund accountant at UPA in 1996, and joined RFS in July 2002. Rauha now heads up our Benchmark client services team while also providing client services to a portfolio of our prime private funds. Rauha obtained a BA (Business Administration) from Thiel College in the US. She holds an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning (Employee Benefits) from University of Free State, the Certificate of Proficiency from Insurance Institute of South Africa and has completed a Programme in Retirement Fund Management through UNISA (IISA Licenciate). She successfully completed the Programme in Advanced Insurance Practice through IISA. In her 20 plus years in the retirement fund industry, Rauha gained very broad experience to all areas of fund management from fund accounting, fund administration and client servicing and is well placed to guide her pension fund clients wherever assistance may be required.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

All Executive Directors serve on the Executive Committee.
The following senior managers serve on the Executive Committee as well.

• Senior Manager:
  Fund AccountingFrieda Venter

  FRIEDA VENTER

  Frieda Venter is a singularly experienced and qualified Namibian with a focus on retirement fund accounting and financial management, as one of the longest serving members of our team, stretching back to 1991. Frieda is responsible for the Benchmark fund accounting function as well as Benchmark financial management. She holds a banking related Lib (SA) certificate, and ‘closer to home’, the Certificate Of Proficiency and the Intermediate Certificate (retirement fund management) of the Insurance Institute of South Africa. She re-joined our team in 2000 and has since been exposed not only to accounting matters but also to fund administration, handling a portfolio of funds in our Benchmark Retirement Fund. In the position of Financial Manager: Benchmark, she is responsible for providing accounting services to and for exercising control of Benchmark Retirement Fund’s financial records and reporting.

• Senior Manager:
  Fund Administration (Umbrella Funds)Hannes van Tonder

  HANNES VAN TONDER

  Hannes van Tonder joined our team in April 2004. He heads up our Benchmark Retirement Fund administration services, systems and procedures and in-house umbrella fund administration training. Hannes is well known and respected in the retirement funds industry, having had his first exposure to this specialized field as a member of our team in 1997. Hannes holds a B Com degree from Unam and an honors degree from Unisa. Closer to home, he obtained an IISA Licentiate (Retirement Fund Management) conferred by the Insurance Institute of South Africa. Hannes is responsible for client services to participating employers of the Benchmark Retirement Fund.

• Senior Manager:
  Fund Administration
  (Private Funds)Victoria Nashongwa

  VICTORIA NASHONGWA

  Victoria Nashongwa joined us at the beginning of 2002 after a brief spell at the City of Windhoek. Vicky is responsible for a team of administrators providing fund administration services to our private fund clients. She has previously been in the employ of Alexander Forbes and its predecessor UPA since March 1997, and calls on extensive, relevant experience. As Insurance Institute of South Africa licentiate, she holds the Intermediate Certificate. Vicky’s passion is client service and fund administration. She is responsible for a number of key fund administration functions, for the maintenance of our administration systems and procedures and staff training.

• Fund Administration
  (Private Funds)Caroline Scott

  CAROLINE SCOTT

  Caroline Scott joined us at the beginning of 2003 from Standard Bank trust department where she gained extensive experience in the management of trusts, a field closely related to the pensions industry. Caroline is heading up the administration of the Retirement Fund for Local Authorities and Utilities in Namibia. Before joining Standard Bank she was employed by Nammed, Old Mutual’s medical aid scheme, again in a field closely related to our industry. Caroline started off as administrator in the Benchmark division, she took on responsibility for the administration of a number of participating employers of the fund and moved on again to be responsible for a portfolio of large private fund clients as Portfolio Manager. She has earned herself a reputation for her determination and her firm guidance of clients’ business. Caroline is responsible for the team administering all our private funds except the Retirement for Local Authorities and the Benchmark Retirement Fund.

• Internal Audit, Compliance and Risk ManagementCarmen Diehl

  CARMEN DIEHL

  Carmen Diehl joined us on 8 May 2017 as Manager: Internal Audit, Compliance and Risk Management. Carmen matriculated at DHPS in 2000. She obtained a B. Accounting (Honours) degree in 2004 at the University of Stellenbosch. She started her articles with KPMG in 2005 and moved to EY in October 2006. She completed her articles with EY in 2008 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA). She joined Bravura Namibia Trading in 2008 as Financial Manager. From 2009 until 2012 she was employed by the O&L group as group financial manager: corporate finance, where after she joined Ohorongo Cement. Carmen is married and the mother of 2 children.