Board of Governors

Colin is the first Group Chairman of the Chevrah Kadisha.  Following in the Datnow family tradition of community service, Colin joined the organisation in 1984. He became Vice Chairman in 1986 and Chairman in 1995. Colin was the founder of Brandcorp Holdings and served as its CEO from 1997 – 2016. His dedication to the community seems limitless.

Gary is a partner at LeapFrog Investments, a leader in ‘Profit with Purpose’ investing, building companies that maximise both financial and social returns. Formerly Gary was the joint Managing Director of Alexander Forbes Financial Services and he co-founded Investment Solutions. Gary joined the Chev Board in 2001.

Martin is the CEO of Westbrooke,a private investment and alternative asset management group. He is a CA by profession. Martin has been actively involved with the Chevrah Kadisha since 2007 when he joined the Board of Governors and was the first Chairman of Helping Hands. At the end of 2010 he assumed the responsibilities of Treasurer on the Board of Governors. He serves on the Board of Governors, Management Committee, Remuneration Committee, Audit Committee and Capital Fund.

Richard is the Chief Executive Officer of Netcare Limited. As a young boy, Richard was a recipient of the Chevrah Kadisha’s chesed and considers it a privilege to be of service to the organisation. He has served on the Chev Board since 2013.

Sean is the Chairman and a founder of Peregrine Holdings, a wealth and asset management company listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. He is also Chairman of Stenham, an international financial services group. He joined the Chev Board in 2002.

Lawrie served articles with Arthur Andersen in Johannesburg and after qualifying as a CA became involved in managing his family’s business interests. He has been part of the management team at Brimstone since October 1996 and played a valuable role in growing the Group to the stage of its listing in July 1998. Lawrie was appointed Financial Director of Brimstone in 2007 and is Non-Executive Director of Nando’s Group Holdings Limited, The Scientific Group (Proprietary) Limited, Alternate Director at Sea Harvest Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, and Life Healthcare. He joined the Chev Board in 1995.

Brenda Lasersohn has been a practicing psychologist in private practice since 1986. She has extensive experience as a psychotherapist and forensic psychologist and has provided consultation, supervision and psychotherapy training to Chevrah Kadisha Social Services (JCS) for over 30 years. Brenda considers it a deeply meaningful honour to have been appointed to the Chev Board with effect from November 2018.

Mark is a CA by profession and the founder and CEO of Smart Media, an in-store media and innovations company. He is also a Director at InfoSlips Connect, a reseller of a software-as-a-service company focusing on delivering transactional documentation. Mark has been involved with the Chev in a valuable and supportive role for many years and was honoured to be elected to serve on the Board in 2020.

Lawrence is Managing Director of Westbrooke, a private investment and alternative asset management group. He holds a Bcom (Hons) in Finance and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (PLD). He was appointed to the Chevrah Kadisha Board of Governors in August 2021 and assists specifically in the Investment Committee and the Audit Committee. Lawrence feels honoured to be able to serve such an exceptional organization and be a part of assisting the Chevrah Kadisha’s continued Chesed and Ahavat Yisrael.