Meet Our Leaders

Leadership

Our Directors

John Copelyn

Chairperson

BA Hons, BProc

Non-executive

John joined HCI as chief executive officer in 1997. Prior to this he was a member of Parliament and general secretary of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union. He is the chairperson of the HCI subsidiary companies Deneb Investments, eMedia Holdings and Tsogo Sun Gaming and associate company Southern Sun Limited which are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in May 2005.

Khalik Sherrif

Chief Executive Officer

BA (UHDE), B.Ed, MBA, CM(SA)

Executive

Khalik has well over 25 years of extensive media sales experience. He enjoyed a successful career in the radio industry – occupying various roles at Radio Lotus (re-branded Lotus FM under his tenure) and then at the broader SABC Radio Group – where he eventually became national sales manager. He later worked as the national sales manager of Multichoice SA, before joining the eMedia Group in 2002 as the sales and trade marketing director. He became the Group’s chief commercial officer in 2008. He was appointed to the board on 13 November 2018 and become the CEO on 30 November 2018.

Antonio Lee

Financial Director

BCom (Acc), PGDA, CA (SA)

Executive

Antonio is the financial director of eMedia Holdings and chief financial officer of eMedia Investments. He has 20 years’ post article experience, including 15 years’ experience in the media sector. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in December 2014.

Kevin Govender

BCom Hons, BCompt Hons

Non-executive

Kevin joined the HCI Group in 1997 and has held various roles within the Group. He was the chief financial officer of HCI from 2001 to 2019. He was also the Acting CEO of eMedia Holdings from 2014 to 2017. He holds directorships in numerous HCI subsidiaries including Deneb Investments and Frontier Transport Holdings. He is a trustee and chairperson of the finance committee of the HCI Foundation. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in October 2008.

Yunis Shaik

BProc

Non-executive

Prior to his appointment at eMedia, Yunis was an attorney of the High Court and served as an acting judge in the Labour Court. He is a former deputy general secretary of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union and served as a senior commissioner to the CCMA in KwaZulu-Natal. He is chairperson of Frontier Transport Holdings and a director of Deneb Investments and Tsogo Sun Gaming. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in July 2018.

Loganathan Govender

BCom, CTA, CA (SA)

Independent non-executive

Logie manages his own auditing firm practice in Durban, which is one of South Africa’s oldest black-owned auditing practices. He also serves on the board of Frontier Transport Holdings. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in April 2015.

Elias Mphande

Elec Eng (Dip)

Independent non-executive

Elias was appointed as chairperson of HCI in 2014. He was the marketing director of Viamax Fleet Solutions, a subsidiary of Transnet, before joining Vukani Gaming Corporation as chief executive officer, until 2010. He serves on the boards of eMedia Holdings, Tsogo Sun Gaming and HCI Coal. He also consults for various companies in the gambling industry. He was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in December 2014.

Rachel Watson

Lead Independent non-executive

Rachel Watson has 35 years’ operational experience within the clothing industry as a trade union representative and national media officer. Rachel recently retired from a managerial position at a regional broadcaster. She also serves on the boards of Frontier Transport Holdings, Tsogo Sun Gaming and HCI. She is a trustee of the HCI Foundation. She was appointed to the eMedia Holdings board in August 2009.