About Us

Sizakele is the Founding Member of Fly Blue Crane, the first black woman-owned commercial airline in the world.

An aviation expert with over 20 years’ of industry experience, Sizakele is also the founder and Executive Chairperson of Blue Crane Aviation – an aviation consulting business. Her strong skills in formulating aviation strategies has led airlines through the most difficult financial periods.

Sizakele started her career at Standard Bank and later worked for Total SA before moving into aviation. Sizakele was the Chief Executive Officer of the national carrier, South African Airways as well as its regional sister airline, South African Express Airways.

Sizakele’s positive attitude, strong negotiating skills and business acumen have helped her scale to many heights, including being the Chairperson of African Airlines Association (AAFRA) and Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA), as well as being appointed as the first female onto the Board of Directors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in its 70-year history.

Gordon Campbell was Canada’s High Commissioner of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland between 2011 and 2016.

He serves on the Commonwealth Board of Governors and as Canada’s special envoy the Ismaili Imamat.

Prior to being High Commissioner, Gordon Campbell served as British Columbia’s 34th Premier. He was elected in three successive elections.

Gordon Campbell was the 40th Mayor of Vancouver. During that time local leaders selected him as the Chairman of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, a regional government of 18 municipalities (1990–1993).

Prior to being Mayor, Mr. Campbell served for two years as a secondary school teacher in Nigeria (1970–72) where he built a new library and coached State Championship Basketball and Track teams, worked as an Executive Assistant to the Vancouver Mayor Art Phillips (1972–1976), was General Manager of Development, Marathon Realty (1976–1981).

Campbell founded his own company Citycore Development Corporation in 1981. Citycore was the developer of two Vancouver hotels. Campbell was one of the founding developers of the first phase of Whistler Village and was a leader in the Downtown Stadium for Vancouver, a decision that helped shape Vancouver for the 21st Century.

A man with insurance in his blood, Mitch Marescia's reputation as a doyen in the industry is time­honoured. It's been forged through a series of strategic moves that have shaped his career and the organisations under his leadership. A man with great vision, he is passionate about insurance, empowering people through knowledge transfer, and starting new businesses. Through his radical approach to life and doing business, Mitch has re-engineered the industry.

Previous Roles include:

• AIG - financial controller and company secretary and later vice president of operations and company secretary
• Camargue Underwriting Managers - co-founder and CEO. Mitch transformed what was a small start-up into one of the most successful niche insurance underwriting agencies on the continent. successfully negotiating Brit Limited's investment into the Group. At this point he went on to become chairman and remains a shareholder

Mandiza N. Mbekeni has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2007. She is Chairman of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee and a member of the Risk Committee.

Ms. Mbekeni was a candidate attorney at Webber Wentzel Attorneys from 1991 to 1994. She served as a Legal Advisor in 1994 at Investec Bank and later at Transnet Ltd. She then joined Rand Water in 1998 as a Legal Services Manager and thereafter the General Manager.

She became Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD Business Foundation in 2005 until 2006, and thereafter joined Cell C as Chief Corporate Officer. She was the Managing Director of Princess Holdings for two years until 2008, and then joined SA Post Office in the Legal Services Division until 2012.

She was the Head of Governance at Edu-Loan until 2015 and she is now an executive at the South African Receiver of Revenue. She served on the Board of the Smollan Group as a Non-Executive Director from 2005 to 2016.

Ms. Mbekeni holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Law from Rhodes University and a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. She has completed a Management Advancement Programme (MAP) at the University of Witwatersrand Business School and a Masters in Applied Ethics and Business Ethics at the University of Stellenbosch (Dissertation outstanding).

Executive Committee member and Chief Financial Officer since 2014. (Member of the Asset/Liability Management Investment Committee and the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee).

Sizakele is the Founding Member of Fly Blue Crane, the first black woman-owned commercial airline in the world.

Elvin has a wide range of experience at Senior Executive and Board level. He has performed roles in Finance, Operations, Technology and Risk Management.

Elvin has a wide range of experience at Senior Executive and Board level. He has performed roles in Finance, Operations, Technology and Risk Management.

Sizakele is the Founding Member of Fly Blue Crane, the first black woman-owned commercial airline in the world.

Elvin has a wide range of experience at Senior Executive and Board level. He has performed roles in Finance, Operations, Technology and Risk Management.

Dr Taddy Blecher is CEO of the Maharishi Institute and the Imvula Empowerment Trust, CEO of the Community and Individual Development Association; and former Chairperson of the SA National Government task team on Entrepreneurship, Education, & Job Creation. He is a pioneer of the free tertiary education movement in South Africa, helping create six free access institutions of higher learning. A qualified actuary and management consultant, Dr Blecher is passionate about the approach of Consciousness-Based Education, a system of education developing the full potential of every student. This has led the Maharishi Institute to wining the first prize in a global competition to find the most promising and innovative education initiative in the world.

Executive Committee member and Chief Financial Officer since 2014. (Member of the Asset/Liability Management Investment Committee and the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee).