After obtaining a BCom degree from the Potchefstroom University, currently the North West University, in 1961, various companies in the private sector employed him as accountant and financial manager from 1961 to 1970. He also obtained an MCom (Accounting) degree in 1965, an MBA in 1968 and a DBA in 1975 from the University of Pretoria. He is a member of the South African Association of Business Leadership, the South African Investment Analyst Association, the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and the Southern Africa Institute of Management Scientists.

Prof Brümmer’s alliance with the University of Pretoria started in 1971 when he joined the Graduate School of Management at the University of Pretoria, where he taught Corporate Finance and Investment Management. From 1984 to 1988 he served as director of the Graduate School of Management and as director of the Bureau of Financial Analysis at the University of Pretoria from 1991 to 2000.

He is presently employed by McGregor BFA (a company within the Naspers group of companies and one of the largest disseminators of financial data to the South African market), which grew from within the Bureau of Financial Analysis at the University of Pretoria.

The BFA was established in 1965 as part of the former Institute of Business Administration at the University of Pretoria. It was essentially the research arm of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and has been largely self-supporting since 1992. The nature of its activities prior to 1992 – and also its primary source of income – involved research and comparative studies for clients in industry. As the BFA had developed a comprehensive financial database with comparative information on companies listed on the JSE, it was decided to rather concentrate efforts on the expansion and commercialisation of its database. This led to the realisation that the BFA needed a private sector partner. The result was BFA-Net (Pty) Ltd, which developed a number of electronic products that were made available to participants in the financial markets at a fee. In terms of an agreement, the BFA would provide the data and support all the users of the system from an academic, professional point of view.

During the first half of 1998, Naspers (the large listed media company) obtained a controlling interest in BFA-Net (Pty) Ltd. McGregor Information Services, a competitor of BFA and BFA-Net, was taken over by the affiliate in the process. McGregor’s assets and staff were incorporated into BFA-Net and the name BFA-Net was changed to McGregor BFA (Pty). Prof Leon Brümmer, former head of the BFA, retired at the end April 2000 and joined McGregor BFA in a permanent capacity, but would still head the new BFA (Pty) Ltd.

Prof Brümmer’s employment in die Department of Financial Management is of a part-time nature to facilitate the research activities of the Department. His research is concentrated in the field of corporate finance and investment management. He is also author and co-author of five textbooks in this field, as well as numerous papers published in management journals and congress proceedings. As a management consultant, he gained extensive experience in both the private and public sectors.

He spends one day a week at the Department to help academic staff members with their own further studies and the writing of articles. Prof Brummer also assists with the selection of doctoral candidates and provides support to supervisors of master’s and doctoral studies.