Group Five: Vemer promoted to chief executive

ERIC Vemer, a member of Group Five’s group executive committee and managing director of its investment and concessions cluster, has been appointed chief executive of the listed construction and engineering group effective from December 1. Vemer is a key participant in its strategy development group, leading many acquisition and disposal activities and black empowerment transactions. He will succeed Mike Upton, who is approaching retirement age. Group Five said on Tuesday that Vemer’s appointment followed an extensive selection process from a group of competitive internal and external candidates. The board said it was confident Vemer would successfully lead Group Five into the future off the solid base created over the past few years. It added that Vemer’s appointment allowed for an orderly handover of responsibility and for a period thereafter, Upton would support the transition and manage specific projects for the group.Vemer, 49, joined Group Five in 2005. He has broad and geographically diverse experience in the engineering, contracting, consulting, manufacturing, project finance and infrastructure concessions sectors. He holds a BSc in civil engineering and MBA from UCT and recently completed an executive development programme at Harvard University in the US. Group Five shares fell 0.29 percent to close at R40.57 on Tuesday. – Roy Cokayne