Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti has announced that former De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver and former JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King have been appointed as independent nonexecutive directors with effect from July 22.

Cleaver, who has commercial and mining experience, will serve as a member of the audit and risk committee and the social, ethics and sustainability committee and Newton-King will serve as a member of the compensation and human resources committee and the social, ethics and sustainability committee.

Cleaver was CEO of global diamond company De Beers Group from 2016 to early 2023 before becoming co-chair until the end of 2023.

He joined De Beers in 2005 as general counsel and held various executive roles spanning business development and strategy before becoming CEO in 2016. Prior to this, he was a partner at South African law firm Webber Wentzel.

Cleaver became chairperson and a nonexecutive director of the UK-based JSE- and Aim-listed gemstone company Gemfields Group on July 1.

Newton-King was CEO of the JSE until 2019. She joined the JSE in 1996 and held various executive roles before becoming CEO in 2012.

Newton-King is a corporate finance and securities regulation lawyer and brings legal, business, regulatory and capital markets experience to the board, as well as knowledge of sustainability matters.

She was responsible for repositioning the JSE as a modern securities exchange and her initiatives there included the implementation of the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment Index, the first index of its type globally.

Newton-King is a nonexecutive director at mobile network operator MTN Group and a nonexecutive director at the international banking and wealth management group Investec.

She is also the chair of the Council of Stellenbosch University and a trustee of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

“[Newton-King and Cleaver’s] appointments bring to the board extensive executive and leadership experience, coupled with wide-ranging expertise that includes capital markets, strategy and commercial insights across developed and developing markets. Their perspectives will be invaluable,” AngloGold Ashanti chairperson Jochen Tilk said on July 17.