"DRDGold appoints Henriette Hooijer as first female CFO

DRDGOLD has appointed Henriette Hooijer as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) designate, effective July 1, 2025. She has also been appointed to the company’s board with effect from the same date, becoming the first female executive director in DRDGOLD’s history.

Her appointment is part of the company’s succession planning as she prepares to succeed current CFO, Riaan Davel, who has signaled his intention to step down from his executive role after the financial reporting season for the 2025 financial year comes to an end. Hooijer was anticipated to assume the office of CFO from February 1, 2026.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Hooijer brings nearly a decade of leadership experience at DRDGOLD, having joined the company in 2016 as Group Financial SOx and Compliance Manager, after more than a decade at professional services firm KPMG.

She was later promoted to Financial Director of Far West Gold Recoveries, playing a key role in the delivery of this successful project. Since March 2024, she has served as General Manager: Group Finance, contributing to the group’s financial leadership and strategic implementation of its Vision 2028.

Davel, who joined the company as CFO in January 2015 after a 17-year career in professional services including a partnership at KPMG, is not entirely lost to the company. He has agreed to stay on as an independent consultant to the CFO office for a one-year period ending January 31, 2027, to support the transition and continue contributing to the execution of Vision 2028.

DRD’s share price was down 0.54% to R23.78 on the JSE Wednesday afternoon, but it is well up from the R15.76 that it traded at a year ago.

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