The FISA Chairperson’s Award

This award is given annually to the person who, in the estimation of the FISA Chairperson and the FISA Council, has made a remarkable and significant contribution to the fiduciary profession. Nominations are called for in the months leading up to the annual FISA Conference. No sitting FISA Councillor or any employee of or contractor to FISA is eligible. The award, comprising a trophy and a certificate, was introduced at the 7th Annual FISA Conference in 2017.

Winners

2023

Ms Henda Kleingeld, FPSA®, CFP®, TEP

Ms Kleingeld holds the degrees BCom (Law), LLB and LLM, as well as the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning and the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa, a Fiduciary Practitioner of South Africa (FPSA®) conferred by FISA, a Certified Financial Planner licensee (CFP®) conferred by the Financial Planning Institute, and a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) with the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

She is employed at the School of Financial Planning Law at the University of the Free State since 2009 where she is currently the programme director for the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning. She served as programme director for both the Advanced Diploma in Estate and Investment Planning and the Advanced Diploma in Estate and Trust Administration, the development and registration of the latter for which she was also responsible.

Ms Kleingeld managed the FPSA® professional competency examination when it was still a stand-alone assessment. She has presentations and publications on national and international level to her credit, and was a contributing author of a book with the title “Perspectives in Financial Therapy.”

Read the press release here.

2022

Dr Ronel Williams, FPSA®, MTP(SA), TEP

Dr Williams is the Head of Client Legal and Administration at TrustQore (Mauritius) Ltd (previously GMG Trust Ltd). She heads up the administration teams responsible for client administration services and provides technical and legal support to the teams.

Prior to joining GMG Trust in 2019, she worked as a fiduciary specialist at Nedgroup Trust for eight years and at Nedbank Private Wealth for six years. Dr Williams started her career with the Department of Justice and has over 25 years’ experience in the fiduciary field. She served as Chairperson of the Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (FISA) for three years and as National Councillor for five years. She has been a speaker at several FISA conferences.

Dr Williams was admitted as a (non-practising) Advocate of the High Court in South Africa. She is a Fiduciary Practitioner of South Africa® (FPSA®), Master Tax Practitioner (SA), and a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). She holds the degrees BA, LLB, LLM (with distinction) and LLD, a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning and a Postgraduate Diploma in Tax Law.

Read the press release here.

2021

Gordon Stuart, FPSA®, TEP

Mr Stuart is the Managing Director of the Accuro Group’s Mauritius office with overall responsibility for the Mauritian operations. He holds the degrees B Com (Law), H. Dip (Tax Law) and LL M(Tax) as well as an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Finance and Estate Planning and a Certificate in Advanced Trust Law. He is a full member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (TEP) and a member of FISA. He also holds the highest fiduciary designation of Fiduciary Practitioner of SA® (FPSA®).

Mr Stuart is a regular guest on various Business Day television shows, writes articles and delivers public talks on all aspects of trusts, tax and other estate planning topics, with a focus on multijurisdictional estate planning. He is the Treasurer of the Mauritius Association of Trust and Management Companies, a director of Mauritius Finance (the association representing management companies, banks, lawyers, accountants and the insurance industry in Mauritius), and Chairman of the Mauritius Finance Technical Committee for Global Business. Mr Stuart sits on the Mauritius Financial Services Commission Technical Committee for Global Business and assists the Mauritius Economic Development Board.

Read the press release here.

2020

Phia van der Spuy, FPSA®, CA(SA), MTP(SA), TEP

Ms van der Spuy is a Chartered Accountant with a Masters degree in Local and International Tax, a Fiduciary Practitioner of South Africa®, a Master Tax Practitioner (SA), a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) and the founder of Trusteeze®, a professional trust practitioner. She also holds a B.Com honours degree in Industrial Psychology.

Phia co-founded a company that digitised trust administration and accounting, called Trusteeze.

Phia writes about trusts and estate planning in various national newspapers on a regular basis. She is a guest speaker and guest lecturer on the topic of trusts and estate planning. She also published a book called “Demystifying Trusts in South Africa”.

Read the press release here.

2019

Colin Hickling, FPSA®

Mr Hickling has been active in the financial and fiduciary services industry since the early 1960s, having joined Bloemfontein Board of Executors and Trust Company Ltd (Bloemboard) in 1963, and having been Managing Director of that entity from 1976 to 1994. Since 1994 he has managed the family owned The Public Trustee and Trust Corporation (Pty) Ltd in Bloemfontein, an entity undertaking the administration of estates and trusts and the preparation of wills and trust deeds, and estate planning. Mr Hickling is a former Council member, Chairman and Honorary member of the Association of Trust Companies. He is also a former Council member and an Honorary member of FISA.

Read the press release here.

2018

Nico Botha, FPSA®

Mr Botha has been active in the industry since the 1980s and held several senior positions in trust companies over the years, including Managing Director of Syfrets Trust. He was a past chairperson of the Association of Trust Companies, FISA’s predecessor. He was instrumental in setting up the Justice Resources Trust, which was funded by various trust companies to assist the Master of the High Court in computerising its systems. He also helped set up the Forum for Deceased Estates, to facilitate discussions with the Master’s Office. Mr Botha has acted as a mentor to many young fiduciary practitioners over the years. He was the Chief Executive Officer of ST&T at the time of his death on 13 June 2021.

Read the press release here.

2017

Nico van Gijsen, CFP®

Mr van Gijsen has over 20 years of experience in the financial and fiduciary services sector. He is Managing Director of Finlac Risk & Legal Management (Pty) Ltd, an independent company that provides specialist legal and financial planning services. He is a certified financial planner and member of the Financial Planning Institute. Mr van Gijsen has written three books on financial planning and is an active commentator in the media, with regular columns published by Rapport and Landbouweekblad.

Read the press release here.