Three months into my new role…

Dear Remedi member

As Kobus mentioned in the first newsletter of the year, I have succeeded him as the Principal Officer of the Remedi Medical Aid Scheme as from 1 March 2017. It has been three months in the role and I’m enjoying it thoroughly.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Kobus for the professional handover and for his contribution over the last five years as Principal Officer. We are fortunate that he still serves on the Board as Remgro’s employer appointed trustee, and I wish him all the best in this role. Secondly, I want to thank the Board of Trustees for putting their trust in me as the new Principal Officer. I was welcomed with open arms and I am enjoying the challenge at hand.

A little background – my career started in 1990 after finishing my Accounting degree at RAU (known as University of Johannesburg today) and joining Transatlantic Tobacco as a clerk in Finance. Transatlantic merged with Intercontinental in the nineties and became Rothmans International, which then became British American Tobacco (BAT) in 1999. I’ve held various positions across Finance and Marketing in my 26-year career and BAT equipped me with a skill-set that I believe will benefit me in my new role as Principal Officer.

I am married to Amanda who I met at high school, and who some of you know, as she also worked at Rothmans International and BAT for 18 years. We have two kids, Shani and Juan, and we live in Somerset West. I was born and bred in Roodepoort and for that reason I remain a Lions supporter for life! We love the outdoors and holidays, mostly consist of camping, having braais and just having fun as a family.

I am extremely proud to be involved with Remedi, a Scheme that will turn 45 years young in 2017. Remedi was built on a foundation that was laid a long time ago; it is still standing strong and is financially sound as ever. I believe this is one of the biggest benefits of belonging to a closed scheme: “For your own, managed by your own.” Thank you to all who have been involved over the last 45 years and who have made Remedi such a successful medical aid. Here, you are not just a number but are cared for as an individual.

The biggest challenge today in the medical aid industry is to balance the ever-increasing above-inflation cost while keeping contributions affordable for our members. The only way to combat higher-than-inflation increases is to live healthier lives.

This is what excites me about my new role – the challenge to influence members to be more active, eat healthier, go for screenings and stay on top of their health.

Positive lifestyle changes can go a long way to make medical aid contributions affordable for all.

As such, I look forward to working together with the Board of Trustees to ensure Remedi remains your Medical Aid Scheme of choice.

Regards

Jaco