About AHP
Our Board
AHP's board is responsible for:
- Approving the project strategic direction
- Reviewing the projects purpose, vision and values on an annual basis
- Reviewing project outcomes on a quarterly basis against progress indicators
- Reviewing results annually
- Reporting back to their respective principals
Saul Kornik
Executive Director and CEO of AHP
Mr Kornik was involved in setting up the Rural Health Initiative from its infancy in 2006. He was involved in negotiating and leading the merger to form AHP in 2007, and has led the organisation since then.
Mr Kornik has a number of years of corporate experience with Deloitte, Goldman Sachs and Lloyds TSB in South Africa, London and Bermuda. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst and has completed his Masters degree in intelligent pattern recognition techniques as applied to the prediction of corporate failure. He has also spent some time lecturing in these topics. Mr Kornik was awarded the Archbishop Tutu African Leadership Fellowship in 2008 and was selected as one of South Africa’s top 200 young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian in 2011.
Kate Thiers
Executive Director and COO of AHP
Ms Thiers joined AHP in her role as head of AHP operations in 2010. Since then, she has overseen the growth of the organisation three-fold. Ms Thiers has eight years of corporate experience with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Comcast, Johnson & Johnson and Andersen Business Consulting in the US and UK.
Ms Thiers has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School in Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude. She also obtained an MBA from Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Ms Theirs now also sits on the board of executive directors at AHP, as of May 2012.
Prof Jannie Hugo
Non-Executive Director and Head of Department of Family Medicine at UP
Prof Hugo was involved in setting up the Rural Health Initiative from its infancy. He has been involved at a strategic level in the organisation ever since then.
Prof Hugo is a family physician, heading up the University of Pretoria’s Department of Family Medicine. Before that, he worked at the Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) for 17 years. He has served on the executive and several committees of the Health Professions Council of South Africa, on the board of Enablemed, and is also a founder-researcher of the Madibeng Centre for Research in Brits. His interest is in education and management of primary care services, district and rural health, and the development of district campuses in urban and rural areas. He has published extensively. Prof Hugo was integral to initiating the development of a mid-level medical worker programme for South Africa.
Dr. Penny Tlhabi
Non-Executive Director and Director of Discovery Health
Penny is a Director of Discovery Health, heads up Human Resources as well as Enterprise Development and Corporate Social Responsibility and serves on the Executive Committee of Discovery Holdings. Between 2002 and 2005, Penny was employed as the CEO of the Board of Healthcare Providers (BHF).
Between 1996 and 2000 she was employed as the CEO of Transmed Administrators. The main highlight of her tenure at Transmed was restructuring the business from a loss making entity which enabled it to be privatised in 2000. Penny serves as a Director of Witkoppen Clinic and has done so for the past three years.
In 1996 Penny completed the Management Advance Programme (MAP) through the Wits Business School and in 2005 she went on to complete a Diploma in Health Management at the University of California. In 2011 Penny attended a Driving Performance through Talent Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and in 2012 she attended an Advanced Human Resource Executive Programme at the University of Michigan.
Dr Gustaaf Wolvaardt
Non-Executive Director and Managing Director of FPD
Dr Wolvaardt was involved in setting up The Placement Project. He has been involved at a strategic level in the organisation ever since then.
Dr Wolvaardt is the founder and MD of South Africa’s largest private university and one of the country’s largest recipients of PEPFAR funds, Foundation for Professional Development (Pty) Ltd. He is a qualified internal medicine specialist and served as South Africa’s first health attaché at the South African permanent mission in Geneva. In this position he represented South Africa at the WHO, UNAIDS, UNESCO and other United Nations organisations. During this period he was elected as the Interim Chairman of the UNAIDS governing board for its third session (1995) and as chairman of the African Health liaison committee in Geneva (1995 – 1996). He founded FPD, under the South African Medical Association, on his return to South Africa. Dr Wolvaardt serves on the board of directors of the South African Institute for Health Care Managers, Dira Sengwe Conferences, Right to Care and Aids Accountability International.
Dr Clarence Mini
Non-Executive Director and Chairman
Dr Mini served as chairman of the AHP joint venture advisory board from its inception. This year, he was elected as chairman of the Board of Directors for AHP NPC.
Dr Mini is a medical doctor who has worked in rural and urban settings in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He has also worked as a corporate affairs executive at Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators and Toga Molecular Biology Laboratory. Currently, Dr Mini serves as chairman of the Board of Healthcare Funders. He has served on numerous other healthcare boards, including the National AIDS Convention of South Africa (co-chair), South African Network of AIDS Service Organisations (chair), Gauteng Accreditation Committee for Health Facilities (chair), Gauteng Medical Association (president) and Dira Sengwe Conferences.
Prof. Samuel Fehrsen
Non-Executive Director and Professor of Family Medicine at MEDUNSA
Prof Fehrsen served on the advisory board of AHP from 2010. He was nominated to the board by the SAAFPT, of which he is a trustee.
Prof Fehrsen is a qualified family physician who has extensive work experience in rural South Africa. In 1977, he was appointed the first Head of the Department of Family Medicine at MEDUNSA and served there until his retirement at the end of 1996. Following his retirement he continued to work part-time in the Department until 2002. He was a founding member of the South African Academy of Family Practice Council and President of the Academy from 1993 to 1999. Prof Fehrsen has contributed significantly to the development of family medicine as a discipline and, in particular, to the teaching and practice of the patient-centred clinical method as one of the central pillars of the discipline. At present, he is the Managing Director of Enablemed, a managed healthcare company that manages the risk for medical aid schemes for their low cost options. His expertise as an educationist has been sought internationally for consultancies in Botswana, Thailand (funded by the European Union), Democratic Republic of Congo and the WHO. He is a member of several professional bodies nationally and internationally and has held leadership positions in a number of them.
