Old Mutual has appointed Roger Jardine (pictured) as chairman-designate and plans to hand over the chairmanship after the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 5 June 2026.
The company announced the appointment in a SENS statement on 17 March, noting that Jardine will assume the role of chairman at the conclusion of the AGM, subject to his confirmation as a director at the meeting.
Current chairman Trevor Manuel will retire as chairman and as a director at the close of the AGM. According to the SENS statement, Manuel turned 70 in January 2026, which is the retirement age for directors set out in the company’s board charter.
Old Mutual said Jardine will work alongside Manuel during a three-month handover from March to June 2026 to ensure “continuity of strategic leadership, structured stakeholder engagement, and an orderly transition”.
Jardine joined the Old Mutual board as an independent non-executive director in September 2025.
The company described him as a business leader with extensive board-level and executive experience across South and southern Africa. According to the SENS statement, he most recently served as chairman of FirstRand for nearly six years and previously held chief executive positions at Kagiso Media, the Aveng Group, and Primedia.
Old Mutual said his career includes non-executive directorships across a range of sectors, including steel, retail, manufacturing, IT services, mining services, and infrastructure development, and he brings experience in financial services, governance, commercial operations, stakeholder engagement, and public policy.
Congratulating Jardine on his appointment, Manuel said the board believes his experience will support the group’s strategy.
“Roger has outstanding leadership experience in financial services and the broader business environment,” Manuel said in the SENS statement. “The board is confident that his proven strategic, governance, and operational leadership will be invaluable to Old Mutual as it continues on its path of strategic and operational renewal and enhanced value creation.”
Jardine holds a Master of Science in radiological physics from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Science in physics from Haverford College in the United States, according to Old Mutual.
Manuel has chaired Old Mutual since 2018. His retirement follows the provisions of the company’s board charter that set the retirement age for directors at 70.
