On 17 August 2021 Mr André de Ruyter Group Chief Executive of ESKOM Holdings SOC Ltd presented the 2021 Hendrik van der Bijl Memorial Lecture online. Mr De Ruyter was appointed in his current role at ESKOM in January 2020. He is a seasoned executive and in the course of his 30-year career has been active locally an internationally in various portfolios in the energy space
He has significant experience in managing coal, oil, chemical and gas businesses, including marketing of export coal to international utilities and taking responsibility for the operations of very large coal and gas conversion plants, including electricity generation. He was a member of the Sasol group executive committee from 2009 to 2014, and spent some time in China as President of China Ventures and also in Germany in a business turnaround and management capacity. He was appointed as CEO of Nampak in 2014.
Mr de Ruyter holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, a Bachelor of Law (LLB) which he obtained from the University of South Africa as well as a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pretoria.