Morris Mthombeni

Prof Morris Mthombeni is the Dean of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), following his appointment in 2020. He joined GIBS in 2014 and was appointed as the Executive Director of Faculty in 2017. He has a wealth of corporate experience in banking, insurance, and investment management - with a cumulative 31 years in the financial services industry.

Before joining GIBS in 2014, Prof Mthombeni held several leadership positions at Liberty Life and Momentum, culminating in a four-year tenure as CEO at Momentum Investments and as an Executive Director of MMI Holdings Limited. Prof Mthombeni holds positions as a non-executive director in the banking and insurance industries.

In addition to his leadership work, Prof Mthombeni is a passionate academic. On academic programmes, his primary focus has been the PhD and DBA programmes as well as the Master’s programmes where he lectures in the areas of Corporate Strategy, Corporate Governance, Environment of Business, Fintech, Strategic Leadership and Innovation. He also lectures on GIBS' flagship Global Executive Development Programme, Board Leadership Programme, and the Harvard Senior Executive Leadership Programme for senior managers and executives.

Prof Mthombeni has engaged in teaching, research and corporate governance assignments in South Africa, Botswana, England, Germany, Holland, Mozambique, Nigeria, Poland, Rwanda, Russia, Swaziland, Sweden, the USA, and Zimbabwe.

Finally, Prof Mthombeni contributes internationally to the higher education sector as a member of the South African Business Schools Association (SABSA) Deans and Directors forum, a member of the Academy of International Business Deans Roundtable, a member of the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) Global Chapter Council and a member of the Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association (BGA) Africa & Middle East Advisory Council.