SOUTH AFRICA – South African packaged food group, Tiger Brands has appointed Deepa Sita as the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director with effect from 1 October 2020.

Sita will be taking over from Pamela Padayachee, who has been serving as acting CFO from 1 February 2020 after former CFO Noel Doyle stepped into the CEO role.

Pamela Padayachee will assume a senior finance role within the company once Sita assumes her position.

“The Board would like to express its appreciation for the professionalism and personal commitment of the Acting Chief Financial Officer, Ms Pamela Padayachee, who will continue in this role until 30 September 2020, after which she will assume a senior finance role in the Company,” stated the company.

Sita is a chartered accountant with an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). She was previously the interim CEO of Massmart’s Masscash division.

She is the current vice-president for integration and strategy at Massmart Wholesale, where she has played a pivotal role in the turnaround strategy of the business, Tiger Brands said in a statement.

Sita started her career with Deloitte as a Trainee Accountant. In 2005, she joined Samsung Electronics as a Senior Finance Manager. Her career then took her to Entyce Beverages, a division of National Brands as Finance and Procurement Director in 2007.

Thereafter, she joined Mondelz International as Finance Director responsible for South, Central and East Africa; Israel and Mauritius.

In 2014, she pursued her MBA studies on a full-time basis and thereafter engaged in multiple consulting assignments, as well as lecturing at GIBS. She joined the Masswarehouse division of Massmart as Finance Director in 2016.

In 2018, her portfolio was expanded when she was appointed as Finance and Commercial Director.

“The Audit Committee is satisfied with the expertise and experience of Ms Sita to be appointed in this role and look forward to her contribution,” highlighted Tiger Brands.

Tiger Brands has been involved in a class action lawsuit related to the listeriosis outbreak in 2017. The suit was launched against Tiger Brands in April 2019.

In June the court ruled in favour of Tiger Brands’ application to have third parties in the court battle provide epidemiological information as evidence for their class action.

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