Group executive committee

Brett Dawson
Chief Executive Officer
Brett Dawson was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2004. Brett joined Dimension Data in 1997 and has held numerous positions within the Group. He first acted as Financial Director of the Group joint venture, OmniLink. Following the merger of OmniLink and Internet Solutions, Brett was appointed CEO of Internet Solutions. In September 2001, he relocated to take on the role of CFO of Dimension Data North America. In October 2002 Brett was appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Dimension Data, Brett was responsible for corporate strategy and planning at National Brands Limited and held corporate finance positions at Anglovaal Limited and KPMG. Brett is a Chartered Accountant.

David Sherriffs
Chief Financial Officer
David Sherriffs was appointed Chief Financial Officer in March 2004. He joined the Group in 1997 as a member of the finance team, primarily involved in corporate finance activities. In 2000, David was named Vice President of Business Development for Europe and relocated to Germany. From 2003, David served as Group Executive Operations and was responsible for business case assessments for strategic projects. Prior to joining the Dimension Data Group, David served in various financial, corporate finance and strategy roles for Anglo American plc, including Executive Assistant to the Chairman. David received his M. Phil in Management Studies at the University of Oxford. David is a Chartered Accountant.

Andrew Briggs
Group Executive: Sales
Andrew Briggs was appointed Group Executive - Sales in June, 2008. He joined Dimension Data in 1997, following the acquisition of Merchants by Dimension Data. Prior to his appointment as Group Executive – Sales, Andrew was responsible for the global management and development of Dimension Data’s Customer Interactive Solutions (CIS) and Converged Communications lines of business, as well as Managing Director of Merchants. Between 1990 and 1997, Andrew worked for Merchants in the United Kingdom in a variety of roles including Managing Consultant. Following the acquisition of Merchants by Dimension Data, Andrew was asked to relocate to South Africa and bring his customer interaction skills to the South African market. Andrew has an MBA from the University of Stirling in Scotland and his undergraduate degree was a BA in Business Economics at the University of Paisley after attending The Glasgow Academy. Andrew is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has recently completed a Diploma in Change Agent Skills and Strategies at the University of Surrey.

Scott Petty
Group Executive: Services
Scott Petty was appointed Group Executive: Services in October 2004. Scott joined Dimension Data when it acquired Com Tech in 1995. In 2000, Scott was appointed Chief Operating Officer for Dimension Data Australia; a role he held until promotion to Group Executive: Services. Scott has over 15 years experience in the IT industry and has a significant depth of industry and company knowledge, at both a strategic and operational level. Leading the Dimension Data Services division is a challenge to which Scott is well suited and he is aware of the critical contribution of Services as an essential component of the company’s overall value proposition.

Stephen Joubert
Group Executive: Global Solutions
Stephen Joubert was appointed to the Board of Dimension Data Holdings plc at the time of its listing in London and Johannesburg in 2000.  Stephen joined Dimension Data in 1996 as Group Finance Director in Network Services and became a Director of Dimension Data Holdings Ltd in 1998. Prior to joining Dimension Data he was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers for a number of years. He is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand and a Chartered Accountant (SA).

Bruce Watson
Group Executive: Cisco Alliance
Bruce Watson was on the board of Dimension Data Holdings from 1988 until 2002 with responsibility for developing the Group's global networking services operations, and all operations in the UK and Europe. Bruce has held management positions at Andersen Consulting and Causeway Communications, which he co-founded prior to joining Dimension Data.

Marilyn Rose Williams
Group Executive: Human Resources
Marilyn Rose Williams has over 20 years experience in both the corporate and academic world.  She has worked for major multi national companies, including Cadbury Schweppes and Tongaat Hullett, where she held senior marketing and HR positions. Marilyn has also lectured at leading international business schools, namely University of Cape Town, UNISA School of Business Leadership and Henley Management College in the United Kingdom.  In 1996, Marilyn founded her own business (ICMD – International Centre for Management Development), in partnership with London Business School and Manchester Business School.  ICMD was acquired by Dimension Data in October 2000 whereby Marilyn was appointed HR Director for the Dimension Data Group.  Marilyn holds a Master of Business Science (Cum Laude) from the University of Cape Town.

Ettienne Reinecke
Chief Technology Officer & Group Executive: Network Integration
Ettienne Reinecke heads the Group’s new technology and research areas and provides leadership in the Groups’ solution and services strategies.  He was on the Board of Dimension Data Holdings from 1998 until 2002, when he joined the newly created Executive Committee.  Ettienne has over 16 years experience in the IT services and networking industry. He holds a B.Engineering (Stellenbosch), B. Engineering (Hons) (University of Pretoria) and M.Engineering (University of Pretoria).

Connie de Lange
Group Executive: Marketing
Connie de Lange joined Dimension Data in January 2004 to lead marketing for the Group. She joined the Group Executive in October of the same year. Connie has over 15 years experience in international marketing and communications, new venture start-ups, and change management. Her relationship with Dimension Data dates from 1997 when she moved to South Africa as Marketing Director and a founder of the Dimension Data joint venture Linx Holdings and its subsidiary OmniLink. Prior to joining Dimension Data, Connie had responsibility for global marketing for ADC Telecommunications. Connie was also a Board Director of the ADC Foundation and the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA). Connie holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours and Distinction) from Kenyon College.

Allan Cawood
Chief Executive Officer, Dimension Data Middle East & Africa
Allan Cawood joined the Dimension Data Group in 1998. Dimension Data acquired DNS, the company he founded 10 years earlier, which grew to become South Africa’s third largest specialist networking organisation. When DNS and Dimension Data Networking were incorporated into a single business unit in 1999 – the forerunner to Dimension Data Network Services – Allan was appointed as the unit’s Managing Director. In October 2001 Allan was appointed as Chief Executive Officer for Dimension Data South Africa. Allan graduated from the University of South Africa (UNISA) with a B.Com in marketing and accountancy.

Bill Padfield
Chief Executive Officer, Datacraft Asia Ltd
Bill Padfield was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Datacraft Asia in August 2003. Bill joined Datacraft as Chief Operating Officer in November 2001 and was appointed as an Executive board member in October 2002. Prior to joining Datacraft, Bill was the Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia-Pacific, Australasia of Equant, leading the combined Equant and Global One organisations in Asia Pacific.

Jere Brown
Chief Executive Officer, Dimension Data Americas
Jere A. Brown is CEO for Dimension Data for the Americas.  Jere was formerly the national vice president of sales for Dimension Data North America where he oversaw U. S. sales operations and new business development as well as maintained and created relationships with Dimension Data’s technology partners. Prior to joining Dimension Data Jere held a number of executive positions within the IT industry. Whilst at SITEL Corp, Jere successfully managed Sales, HR, Finance and Operations of more than 1,000 employees; and he was instrumental in building the eastern division of Inacom into a $400 million unit and was also responsible for the national development of sales and operations teams during his time at OneMain.com/Earthlink. Jere graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and minor in business management.

Russell Bolan
Chief Executive Officer, Dimension Data Europe
Russell has over 25 years experience working in the IT industry and has a proven track record in managing profitable businesses that operate within a global environment.  Russell joined Dimension Data in April 2002 as CEO of Dimension Data UK and in September 2005 was promoted to CEO of Dimension Data Europe which includes both the UK and Continental Europe. Prior to working at Dimension Data, Russell worked as global services director for SITA based in France. He was one of the founding executives of Equant, employed as Vice President for operations and then professional services. Russell was directly involved in positioning Equant for IPO and then assumed managing director roles in countries including Benelux, New Zealand and the UK.

Stephen Nola
Chief Executive Officer, Dimension Data Australia
Steve was appointed as Australia’s regional CEO for Dimension Data in September 2002. Prior to this Steve held the positions of CEO for Dimension Data Integration and joint managing director of Dimension Data Australia. Prior to joining Dimension Data Australia (formerly known as Com Tech Communications) Steve worked for Telstra from 1987 to 1989. Steve holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Hons) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), majoring in Robotics. He is also a member of the advisory board at RMIT for the Bachelor of Information Technology course and a member of the Starlight Foundation Victoria Board.