Old Mutual has announced the appointment of Mr Roger Jardine as Chairman Designate. He will assume the chairmanship at the end of the company's Annual General Meeting to be held on 5 June 2026, subject to his confirmation as a director at the AGM.
Mr Trevor Manuel, Chairman of Old Mutual, turned 70 in January 2026, the retirement age for directors as set out in the Board Charter, the company noted in a statement. He will retire as Chairman and as a Director of the company upon the close of the AGM.
Mr Jardine will work alongside Mr Manuel during a three-month handover period from March to June 2026 to ensure continuity of strategic leadership, structured stakeholder engagement and an orderly transition.
He joined the Old Mutual Board as an independent non-executive director in September 2025. He is a highly respected South African business leader with extensive board-level and executive experience across South and Southern Africa.
He most recently served as chairman of FirstRand for nearly six years and has previously held chief executive positions at Kagiso Media, the Aveng Group and Primedia. Over the course of his career, he has also served as a non-executive director across a broad range of sectors, including steel, retail, manufacturing, IT services, mining services and infrastructure development.
Mr Jardine brings deep expertise in financial services, governance, commercial operations, stakeholder engagement, public policy and the regulatory environment.
He holds a Master of Science in Radiological Physics from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Haverford College, both in the United States.