Leadership
Spencer Johnson
Group Managing Director
Founder and Managing Director of the Lona Group over the past 27 years. He enjoys identifying opportunities to scale and diversify the business and maximising synergies between their various investments. He loves rugby, swimming, mountain biking, snowboarding, eating out, time with family and friends.
Zulfah Osman
Human Resource Director
Zulfah spent the greater part of her career in the financial industry prior to joining the Agricultural Sector. Her passion, dedication and commitment to excellence have led her to assist Lona in achieving a B-BBEE level 2 status for the past five consecutive years. Zulfah loves the outdoors, swimming, and spending time with her family/friends & pets.
Anton Meinesz
Financial Director
Financial Director of the Lona Group since 2014. Anton is a chartered accountant having completed a B.Com at UCT and his articles at Deloitte. He has held various leadership roles in diverse businesses, both in SA and the UK, giving him the skills to oversee Lona’s rapid growth with a focus on equity raises, debt raising, business acquisitions and company restructuring. When Anton is not playing golf, his passions are family, friends, reading and various sports (but mostly golf!).
Mzwandile Zungu
Treasury and Loans
Financial Manager for Lona Group and also looks after the treasury function of Lona Group. He has been with the Group for over 6 years. Mzwandile is a qualified Chartered Accountant with experience in financial services and the Agri industry. He is passionate about business improvements and has a holistic approach to systems improvements. He is a football super fan and enjoys spending time with family and friends.
Paul Searson
Legal / General Council
Company Secretary and Legal Advisor for the Group. Paul is responsible for the Group’s legal affairs and draws on over 25 years of experience in the fruit industry both locally and internationally. When he’s not in the office you will probably find him on the golf course or boating and fishing at the river with his family and friends.
Heinrich Stassen
Managing Director: LonaFresh
Heinrich has 36 years’ experience providing fiscal, strategic, and operational leadership in a uniquely challenging African environment across various industries and businesses. He loves playing golf and mountain biking.
Anton van Zyl
Managing Director: Lona Foods
Anton has spent his career in the fmcg and branded foods space working across multiple categories and geographies in executive general management and marketing roles – both locally and internationally with the likes of Unilever, Mars Inc and Pioneer Foods. He is passionate about finding ways to unlock growth opportunities through better understanding of consumer and customer needs and developing portfolio strategies to match. Anton loves the outdoors and is an active mountain biker, paddler and runner (well, sometimes).
Hans Christiaan Muylaert-Gelein
Managing Director: Unlimited Group
Hans was born in Belgium and holds a Master’s in Political Sciences from the University of Leuven. He fell in love with South Africa during a visit and decided to stay and make South Africa his home. Hans has been building fresh produce businesses in South Africa for the past 25 years and has created several enduring brands in the industry. As founder and Managing Director of the Unlimited Group, he particularly enjoys driving product innovation and our sustainability agenda. He’s passionate about flavour and increasingly excited about the use of data in improving decisions in our complex supply chains. He lives in Franschhoek with his wife Farah and their three children. Keen open water swimmer and an enthusiastic, yet slow trail runner.
Kees van Welie
Managing Director: KHOLD
Energetic and results-oriented, Kees has a passion for building successful leadership teams. He has a proven track record of building strong customer relationships whilst focusing on operational efficiencies, driving up productivity and reducing costs. He loves spending time with his family of 5 and enjoys relaxing with a good book or doing any form of outdoor sports. He is also a current affairs and football junkie.