I first heard of Atterbury…
First a bit of background. I matriculated in 2001 at Menlo Park High School and embarked on a degree in education at the University of Pretoria a year later. Why teaching, you might ask? It is simple really – I want to make a difference in the world, and at that stage of my life I saw no better way to achieve this goal than influencing people from a young age.

Life takes one on interesting detours and in 2004 I faced a challenge. I had to suddenly quit my full-time studies to contribute financially to our household; and for a while it was an uphill battle. Luckily, I managed to make an (unsustainable) plan…

I moonlighted as a night-shift receptionist at a hospital to raise the cash we needed to survive. During the day, I worked at a school as a temp/student teacher. The deal with the primary school was that they’d pay for my part-time studies in return, but as I said, this wasn’t entirely sustainable… one also needs sleep!

Mercifully, after a year and a half of this, Dr James Kirkpatrick of the Stella Street church referred me to Atterbury Trust and made that first appointment for me with Louis and Karin. To be honest, I only found out who and what Atterbury was the night before my interview. I had no wider expectations than being awarded an Atterbury Trust bursary to allow me to complete that teaching degree. In the interview Louis asked me some really tough questions (as only Louis can) and despite my replies he offered me a bursary and a part-time job. I started working at Atterbury in January 2006 as a messenger.

I started working at Developments…
In 2007 I started doing ad hoc jobs for our development team. One of my tasks was to assist Gerrit van den Berg with the leasing of around 30 homes situated on the land that today is Lynnwood Bridge. The stipulations for development rights at Lynnwood Bridge required that we needed to erect a wall at the southern end of Lynnwood Road, between Glenwood Road and the N1. This project, “The Great Wall of Lynnwood”, was my first official project.

The project I am most proud of…
To be honest, I am extremely proud of all the projects I’ve had the privilege to be involved in. But the most challenging, and undoubtedly the most rewarding, was the redevelopment of Brooklyn Mall between 2011 and 2013.

Giving back is important
As I mentioned before, I am passionate about making a difference and giving back. After cancer tried to trip me up in 2015 I realised once again that our time to make a difference might be limited. So I decided to start an annual fundraising golf day to fund positive change in people’s lives and also simply to celebrate life. Our first fundraiser in 2015 had 24 players and last year that number was up to 40. Last year alone we raised enough money to fund two years of an education student’s degree. I’m super proud that we have 144 players competing this year, and that we aim to collect around R300 000.

Family matters…
I’ve been married to my best friend and the prettiest, cutest and strongest woman in the world for eight years! Lindie and I have two rascals, Ewan (three and a half) and Nina (14 months), whom we love to bits.

At work I’m busy with…
I’m currently working on a few very interesting and exciting projects. The biggest and most exciting one is the Erasmus Park development. There’s also The Wedge, an office block in Waterkloof that is soon to become the Pretoria satellite office of PwC; Lodi Ridge, a shopping centre in Nelmapius/Mamelodi in Pretoria East; Pan Africa Mall, a redevelopment of an existing mall in Alexandra, and last, but not least, I’m also assisting with the leasing of a mall in Pemba, Mozambique, a project we completed earlier this year.

What Atterbury means in my life…
For this I need to borrow words from one of my role models. During his farewell speech as chairman of Atterbury, Francois van Niekerk combined two very simple words: “grateful pride”. I am grateful for the initial opportunity that Atterbury gave me; grateful for the opportunity to learn from the best in this industry; grateful to be part of a passionate team who care not only about what we do, but about what truly matters. I am indescribably proud to be able to say that I work at Atterbury.