Mary Vilakazi

IWA Team

May 26, 2026

Mary Vilakazi
Group CEO, FirstRand Limited

Mary Vilakazi is the Group CEO at FirstRand Limited. FirstRand Limited, through its portfolio of integrated financial services businesses, operates in South Africa, certain markets in sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and India.

Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), FirstRand Limited is the largest financial institution by market capitalisation in Africa.
FirstRand is able to provide its customers with differentiated and competitive value propositions due to its unique and highly flexible model of leveraging the most appropriate brand, distribution channel, licence and operating platform available within the portfolio.

A chartered accountant, Mary was previously deputy chief executive officer at MMI Holdings and partner at PwC, where her rise at the firm was marked by her promotion in 2005 at the age of 27, and this made her one of the youngest partners in PwC’s global network at the time.

She grew up in Alexandra, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Despite facing various socioeconomic challenges, through scholarship from the Rotary Fund and the Gifted Child Programme, she showed outstanding academic excellence. She matriculated at St Enda’s Secondary School in Braamfontein before enrolling at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1999 and an Honours degree in Accounting in 2000.

Wanting more in life, after PwC, she ventured into the Mineral Services Group as Chief Financial Officer between 2008 and 2011. Thereafter, she held non-executive roles before joining MMI Holdings in 2014, where she served as Group Finance Director and later as Deputy CEO.

By 2018, she was at FirstRand as Group Chief Operating Officer, a role that demonstrated her capabilities by leading the group’s launch into the insurance and investment management, as well as supertending over its spread into bigger African markets.

In October 2023, FirstRand announced her appointment as Group CEO, succeeding Alan Pullinger. She assumed the role on April 1, 2024, becoming the first woman and the second Black leader to head the organisation.

A recipient of several outstanding awards, she is passionate about gender representation, and navigating challenging regulatory environments. She is doing a great job managing the Group and its subsidiaries globally.