Senior Management
Print MediaEsmaré WeidemanCEO Media24 In a career spanning the most exciting period in South African history, Esmaré Weideman has pioneered the way in delivering relevant, ground breaking and commercially successful publications and content to the South African public. With cum laude BCom and BJournalism Hons degrees from the University of Stellenbosch, she laid the foundations for a highly successful career in journalism. Her early career was capped by selection as the only South African journalist to accompany Nelson Mandela on his world tour after release. Since that time Esmaré has filled the roles of Co-Editor of Drum, Deputy Editor of Fairlady and in 2001 was the youngest ever appointed Editor of You magazine.In 2002 further responsibility was given her in the form of appointment as Joint Editor of You and Huisgenoot – Media24's two most profitable weeklies – with distribution of 4 000 000 per week. And later, in 2010 she became Editor-in-Chief of Huisgenoot, You, Drum, Huisgenoot Pols, You / Pulse and Huisgenoot Tempo.Awards include the Piet Cillié prize for "excellence in journalism" (2005) and the prestigious Phil Weber award for "sustained achievement in a career with Naspers" (2007).  Koos PieterseCFO Media24 Koos was appointed chief financial officer of Media24 with effect from 1 February 2010. He graduated from Rand Afrikaans University (now UJ) with BComHons and is a qualified chartered accountant. He is a former financial director of Ackermans and a director of Media24, Media24 Holdings, Via Afrika and Paarl Media Holdings.  Stephen van der WaltPaarl Media Stephen van der Walt began his career with the Naspers group in 2000 as group financial director of Paarl Media Holdings. In 2004 he was appointed chief operating officer of Paarl Media Holdings, and in 2005 chief executive officer of Paarl Media Holdings.  Fergus SampsonCEO Media24 Newspapers Fergus Sampson is the Chief Executive Officer of Media24's newspaper division. Born and raised in South Africa, Sampson completed his undergraduate education in the USA and joined the newspaper industry shortly afterwards. He cut his teeth with Independent Newspapers in South Africa where he launched a trio of successful soccer magazines. Sampson joined Deon du Plessis in his quest for a working class newspaper in South Africa and became a founding member of the Daily Sun newspaper. He served as the general manager of Daily Sun for five years and helped to guide the paper from its conceptual stages to the biggest daily and number-one newspaper brand in South Africa within five years. Sampson serves on the boards of Directors of Natal Witness, South African Press Association, Print Media South Africa and MultiChoice.  John RelihanCEO Media 24 Magazines John has been in the media industry in South Africa for almost thirty years. His career spans newspapers, books, music, online retail and magazines. Started his career as a journalist; was involved as editor in the launch of the group’s first free community newspaper; held various editorial positions such as motoring editor and edited a regional edition (Eastern Cape) of a major daily newspaper – Die Burger. Became General Manager of Media24’s book and music clubs and launched Kalahari.net (Africa’s largest online retailer). For the past seven years involved in magazine publishing in Media24. Responsible for the general interest (family orientated), travel and motoring titles. The portfolio of some fourteen titles are diverse and includes from the largest weekly magazines in South Africa (Huisgenoot and You) to a fledgling monthly comic magazine (Mshana) aimed at young males. Appointed as CEO: Media24 Magazines as from 1 March 2008.  Jonathan BallManaging Director of Jonathan Ball Publishers Jonathan Ball was born and educated in Johannesburg. He started in book publishing in 1971 at Collier-Macmillan, moved to Macmillan and in 1976 started Jonathan Ball Publishers. Jonathan Ball Publishers became a part of the Naspers Group in 1992.  Hein BrandCEO MIH Print Media Hein Brand joined the Naspers group in 1998 as finance executive. He is a Chartered Accountant and a former financial director of Media24, chief executive officer of Via Afrika and later managing director of Media24. He was appointed as chief executive of MIH Internet Latin America in August 2008, but retained responsibility for all MIH print media investments outside of Africa, most notably the investment in the leading Brazilian magazine publisher Abril and two Chinese print investments.  Eloise WesselsCEO NB Group Eloise Wessels joined the Naspers group as Publishing Manager at the academic book publisher Van Schaik Publishers in 1999. She was later appointed as CEO of the same company and in 2004 moved to become CEO of the trade publisher NB Publishers. Eloise currently heads up the NB Group which comprises NB Publishers, Van Schaik Publishers and Lux Verbi Publishers. She is a director of Via Afrika Ltd.  Fábio BarbosaCEO Abril (Brazil) Fabio Barbosa started his career in 1976, in the financial department of Nestlé, where he stayed for ten years. He was executive vice-president of Citibank and chairman of LTCB Latin America, the Brazilian subsidiary of Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. Mr. Barbosa became the CEO of ABN Amro Bank, which under his command, acquired Banco Real. In 2008, he became the chairman of Banco Santander Basil after the purchase of ABN. In 2011 he assumed the position of member of the Council of the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation - New York) and was awarded as a Leader for Social Change for the Social Change Foundation in partnership with the UN. He was also recognized as Person of the Year by the Brazil-United States Chamber of Commerce in New York. Fabio graduated in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas in São Paulo and holds a MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.  |