The University of Pretoria (UP) has appointed Executive Director of Faculty, and Senior Lecturer, Dr Morris Mthombeni as Interim Dean of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). He commenced the role on 1 July 2020 and will fulfil this role until such time that a permanent dean is appointed following an extensive and exhaustive process by UP. 

Dr Mthombeni has a PhD in Corporate Governance from UP, an MBA in Finance from Manchester Business School and an LLB, B. Proc, B. Juris from the University of South Africa. He has a wealth of corporate experience with a cumulative 28 years in the financial services industry. Prior to joining GIBS in 2014, Dr Mthombeni held several leadership positions at Liberty Life and Momentum, culminating in a four-year tenure as chief executive officer at Momentum Investments and as an executive director of MMI Holdings Limited. He has also held roles in several public and private boards over his career. He was recently appointed as a non-executive director at Investec Bank Limited.

In addition to his leadership work, Dr Mthombeni is a passionate academic and has received accolades from students and academics, both from within and external to GIBS. On academic programmes, his primary focus has been the PhD and DBA programmes as well as the master’s programmes where he lectures in the areas of corporate strategy, corporate governance, environment of business and innovation. He also lecturers on GIBS' flagship Global Executive Development Programme, Board Leadership Programme, and the Harvard Senior Executive Leadership Programme for senior managers and executives.