Executive
Executives
Julia Pope
Chief Financial Officer
Julia Pope
Julia is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 15 years of experience in the retail and consumer products industry. She was the Executive Head of Finance at Dis-Chem before being appointed the CFO in July 2023. Before joining Dis-Chem in 2017, she had various senior management roles at EY.
Rui Manuel Morais
Chief Executive Officer
Rui Manuel Morais
Having joined Dis-Chem after starting his career at EY, Rui served as Group Financial Executive and Chief Financial Officer before being appointed CEO in 2023.
Morais led Dis-Chem's successful JSE listing in 2016 and has played a key role in strengthening the Group's governance, financial performance and long-term growth. As CEO, he is driving the company's transformation into an integrated healthcare ecosystem, focused on making quality healthcare more accessible, affordable and personalised through innovation, digital solutions and customer-centric care.
Non-executives
Dr Anuschka Coovadia
Independent Non-Executive Director
Dr Anuschka Coovadia
Dr Anuschka is
a partner at Usizo Advisory
Solutions, which is an
independent health advisory
consultancy. She was the former
Head of Healthcare for Africa for
KPMG International, a director
on a healthcare investment
development fund – Ayurveda
Investments and a member of
a global task team on Universal
Health Coverage. She has more
than 15 years of experience in
the health and research industry.
Happy Masondo
Independent Non-Executive Director
Happy Masondo
Ms Masondo is a non-executive director of various companies with a master’s degree in law. Her specialities include commercial law with an emphasis in contractual, statutory and regulatory matters. She also brings great experience in the areas of climate change and sustainability.
Laurence Michael Nestadt
Chairman
Laurence Michael Nestadt
Larry has a long
and successful global corporate
career. He is the co-founder of
Investec Bank Ltd and has been
instrumental in the creation and
strategic development of several
listed companies.
Alupheli Sithebe
Independent Non-Executive Director
Alupheli Sithebe
Alu is a private equity investment professional with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions. She is the Managing Director of Kamva Investments. Previously, she was Principal at African Phoenix Investments Limited and Senior Dealmaker at IDC. She qualified as a CA(SA) with EY where she undertook her training period within the firm’s Retail & Consumer Products division.
Katlego Kobue
Non-Independent Non-Executive Director
Katlego Kobue
Katlego has a BCom from WITS and is currently a Senior Investment Manager in the Royal Bafokeng Holdings’ Strategic Investment team with over 10 years of investment experience. Katlego sits on a number of other Boards and is also an independent chairman of DHL Express SA.
Joe Mthimunye
Independent Non-Executive Director
Joe Mthimunye
Joe qualified as a CA in 1993.
In 1996, he co-founded Gobodo Inc., an accounting practice with eight other partners, which later became SizweNtsalubaGobodo Grant Thornton Inc.
In 1999, he led a management buy-out of Gobodo Corporate Finance from the accounting firm and rebranded it aloeCap (Pty) Ltd, of which he is currently the Executive Chair.
He serves on the boards of directors of various non-listed companies in which aloeCap is invested. Joe is an independent, non-executive director of Dis-Chem Pharmacies, where he is also the chair of the Audit Committee, the Chair of Cell-C and also serves as a director of various Group companies.
Nikki Lumley
Company Secretary
Nikki Lumley
Nikki is a qualified CA with over 15 years of work experience, including auditing, taxation, retail, and corporate secretarial work. She is also a qualified Chartered Secretary and is a member of the Chartered Governance Institute of Southern Africa. Nikki joined Dis-Chem as the Group's tax manager in 2016 and transitioned into the Group's Company Secretary role in 2021.
Dis-Chem’s governance framework embodies the Group’s commitment to ethical leadership, accountability, transparency, and sustainable value creation for all stakeholders.
Built on internationally recognised best practice and aligned with evolving South African standards, the governance framework supports strategic oversight, risk management, and performance accountability across the organisation.
For the FY2026 reporting period, Dis-Chem has officially transitioned from King IV™ to the King V™ Report on Corporate Governance, aligning our internal structures with the latest global and local governance developments.
Dis-Chem has policies and procedures in place to ensure that all employees are aware of the conduct which aligns our ethos and their rights as employees.