Cotlands announces new board chairperson and vice-chairperson

Cotlands is proud to announce the newly elected office bearers of the Cotlands board.

After 23 years of loyal service, chairperson Dumisani Ncala handed over the reins to Niven Postma. The new vice-chair is Tatiana Page and Motseki Majake retains the role of treasurer.

“We would like to congratulate Niven Postma and Tatiana Page on their chair and vice-chair appointments. Both board members have diverse expertise and experience and we look forward to them sharing their insights with the Cotlands leadership team as we embark on an exciting e-learning journey to build skilled capacity in the early childhood development sector,” said Dr Monica Stach, CEO of Cotlands.

Postma said as a South African who is deeply committed to her country it is a privilege to be part of the work that Cotlands does.

“As citizens, we all know the critical difference quality education can make, not just in the lives of individuals but also in the trajectory of societies and economies. Cotlands’ world-class expertise and programmes in communities around the country give our children the chance to thrive in their formative years and from there, for the rest of their lives. The 84-year contribution of this remarkable organisation to changing children’s lives cannot be under-estimated or ever fully understood,” she said.

Page said, “Building a pipeline of early childhood development practitioners in South Africa has to be our number one priority if we truly care about the quality of our future leaders.”

Cotlands has also spent considerable time and effort inviting and nominating board members with expertise in strategy, basic education, distance learning and mentorship to ensure they achieve their organisation’s mission and goals. At the virtual annual general meeting held on September 8, Marie-Louise Samuels and Nwabisa Qwanyashe were the newly elected members to the Cotlands board.

Niven Postma joined Cotlands as a board member in January 2018 and has served as vice-chairperson and head of the business development and marketing committee.

She works at senior and executive levels in business, civil society and the public sector. She is the MD of Niven Postma Inc., providing leadership, strategy and culture consulting to clients in South Africa, Australia, the UK, Germany and Scandinavia. Postmas has a BA from the University of Stellenbosch. She completed her EMBA at the UCT Graduate School of Business and her PG Dip Futures Studies at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

Tatiana Page has served as a Cotlands board member since November 2017 and leads the organisational development committee. She has 20 years’ experience in the human resources discipline, having worked in large organisations across industries such as ICT, banking, retail and petrochemical. Page holds an honours degree in industrial psychology. She is a registered psychometrist with the HPCSA and is also a practising coach registered with COMENSA.

Motseki Majake joined the Cotlands board in February 2018 and leads the audit, risk and investment committee. He holds an MBA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a BSc honours in industrial systems from the University of Pretoria.

Majake works at Life and Funeral Assurance as a general manager. His previous work career includes 360 Financial Services Group as executive director, Union Life as chief executive officer and MTN as senior manager: government.