- GARY PLAYER
About The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation
With the desire to support, uplift and develop underprivileged and vulnerable children, The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation was established to nurture and educate a handful of children near their estate outside of Johannesburg in South Africa. Building on their legacy, Gary and Vivienne Player have devoted their life’s work to making a difference in communities and to individuals. They remain committed to protecting and enriching the lives of our precious youth and will continue to do so in every way possible.
Our Tustees
REON BARNARD
Certified Director with the Institute of Directors in South Africa, a Certified Ethics Officer with The Ethics Institute.
Reon joined the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School board in early 2018 with the encouragement of Gary and Vivienne Player and the Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation (Formerly known as the Gary Player Foundation). He holds a Tsinghua INSEAD Executive MBA, and B.Com in Finance from Stellenbosch University.
Reon has more than a decade’s experience as an executive director of BCR Holdings Pty Ltd and is the Chairman of the board of Sekta Group.
Reon uses his innovative thinking, drive for good governance, and broad network to serve the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School and Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation. Reon enjoys family time, travel, reading extensively, golf, and running when he is not changing the world
ALEX MADITSI
BProc (University of the North), LLB (Wits), HDip Company Law (Wits), LLM Company and Labour Law (Pennsylvania, USA), LLM international Commercial Law (Harvard, USA)
Alex Maditsi became lead independent non-executive director in 2015. He is managing director of Copper Moon Trading (Pty) Ltd. Previously he was employed by Coca-Cola South Africa as a franchise director for South Africa, country manager for Kenya, and senior director: operations planning and legal director for Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa. Prior to that, he was legal director for Global Business Connections in Detroit, Michigan. He also spent time at Lewis, White and Clay, The Ford Motor Company and Schering-Plough in the USA, practising as an attorney. Alex was a Fulbright scholar and member of the Harvard LLM Association.
His directorships include African Rainbow Energy and Power (Pty) Ltd, Bidvest Group Limited, Murray & Roberts and Sterling Debt Recoveries (Pty) Ltd
CHARNÉ VERSTER
CA (SA), Registered auditorCharné’s involvement with the Foundation started in 2017, first as external auditor and then as trustee from 2020.
Charné is the founder of Unathi VDP Incorporated, an audit and accounting firm started in 2012. Her experience in financial management and auditing in the private and public sphere adds to the balanced management of the foundation. Charné has a passion for education. She believes that skills and knowledge, should be transferred to next generations.
Therefore she spends time embarking in school projects with disadvantaged children to ensure the transfer of skills and knowledge.
Our Vision
The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation was established with the vision to help to ensure that underprivileged and vulnerable children have a safe and nurturing environment in which to thrive.
The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation operates in South Africa and the United States of America.