– UK, London – Old Mutual plc is pleased to announce that Zoe Cruz and Adiba Ighodaro have both agreed to join its Board as independent non-executive directors with effect from today.
Commenting on their appointments, Patrick O’Sullivan, Chairman of the Company, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Zoe and Adiba to our Board. Zoe’s extensive experience of international financial markets and asset management will provide us with additional insight into these important areas of the Group’s business, while Adiba’s deep knowledge of investing and operating in sub-Saharan Africa will widen the Board’s ability to evaluate opportunities as we pursue our strategy of expanding further into this region.
“With these appointments, we now have a Board which reflects substantial diversity in terms of skills, experience, geography and gender. The composition of the Board has been structured so as to match and support the evolution and focus of the Group’s strategy.”
Zoe Cruz said: “I am especially pleased to be working alongside the rest of the talented Board of Old Mutual. I look forward to contributing to the growth and success of the Group at a very interesting time in its development.”
Adiba Ighodaro said: “No other group of its kind is better positioned to expand its activities across rapidly growing markets in the rest of Africa. Joining the Board at this juncture and contributing what I can to solidifying this growth will be a privilege.”
Bongani Nqwababa, who has been an independent non-executive director of the Company since April 2007, has resigned from the Board today.
Commenting on his resignation, Mr O’Sullivan said: “After nearly seven years on our Board, Bongani now wishes to dedicate more of his time to his executive and new non-executive positions. I would like to thank him for his valuable contribution to the Group and to extend our best wishes to him for the future.”
It has also been agreed that, after the 2014 Annual General Meeting, Danuta Gray will step down from the Group Audit Committee and will succeed Alan Gillespie as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. Mr Gillespie will still remain a member of that Committee after ceasing to be its Chairman.
About Zoe Cruz
Zoe was Co-President for Institutional Securities and Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley from 2005 to 2007. She was responsible for running major revenue-generating businesses there, including overseeing their securities risk management and information technology. From 2009 to 2012, she was involved in founding and running her own investment management firm, Voras Capital Management.
Prior to becoming Co-President of Morgan Stanley, she had been its Global Head of Fixed Income, Commodities and Foreign Exchange from 2001 until 2005. She joined the company in 1982 and was the third founding member of the foreign exchange group. She became a Vice President in 1986, Principal in 1988, Managing Director in 1990 and was Co-Head of the Foreign Exchange Group from 1993 until 2001.
Her early career was spent as a Foreign Exchange Trader with New England Merchants National Bank. She has a BA and an MBA from Harvard University.
About Adiba Ighodaro
Adiba obtained a law degree in London, before moving to Nigeria, where she qualified at the Nigerian Bar and worked initially in private practice. She then joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) in 1991, first in London, and later in Lagos, with a remit to establish CDC’s Nigerian business. She moved to the Caribbean a year later as a Senior Investment Executive and Investment Manager of CDC, helping to obtain investment for and dispose of some of the company’s interests in Africa and the Caribbean. Later she became CDC’s Country Manager for Nigeria. She also became Head of West Africa, with responsibility for building the investment business of its Actis unit across the region.
Actis was spun out of CDC in 2004, resulting in Adiba’s role changing primarily to raising investment funding including for Actis’s $3 billion Global Emerging Markets Fund and $1.2 billion Infrastructure Fund.
Adiba was a founding Board Director and Investment Committee member of Capital Alliance Private Equity Limited, Nigeria. She has also contributed extensively to various think tanks, including the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Privatisation Committee and the Nigerian-South African Business Council.
She has an LLB from Kings College University of London and a Certified Diploma in Accounting & Finance (ACCA).
About Old Mutual
Old Mutual provides life assurance, asset management, banking and general insurance to more than 14 million customers in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Originating in South Africa in 1845, Old Mutual has been listed on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges, among others, since 1999.
In the year ended 31 December 2012, the Group reported adjusted operating profit before tax of £1.6 billion (on an IFRS basis) and had £262 billion of funds under management from core operations.
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