MEET THE TEAM

INVESTMENT MANAGER AND DIRECTOR
ELMIEN WAGENAAR, CFA

Elmien has over 20 years’ experience in analysing and investing in hedge funds.

Prior to establishing THINK.CAPITAL in 2013, she was employed at Citadel Wealth Management for the majority of her professional life. As a Senior Investment Professional in the asset management team she was collectively responsible for R25bn of Private Client Investments.

She obtained both her BSc Hons and MSc in Applied Mathematics degrees (cum laude) at the University of Stellenbosch. Her thesis (Asset allocation in the South African context) was awarded the prize for the Best project in the Honours Category of the 1999 Operations Research Student Competition by the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA). The subject for her MSc thesis was Quantitative and Qualitative Measures in Fund Manager Selection – the research performed for this thesis laid a strong technical foundation to build on throughout her professional career to date.

She became a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder in 2005.

INVESTMENT ANALYST
NATHAN GOUNDER

Nathan successfully attained his BCom degree in Mathematical Science in 2018 and was awarded his Honours degree in Financial Risk Management in 2019 from Stellenbosch University. His practical experience includes working as a Risk Analyst at Fairtree Capital, where he gained experience in risk management and compliance.

Currently, he is diligently working towards the completion of his Master’s degree in Financial Risk Management, where his theory focuses on financial risk management, looking at Credit Risk, Value at Risk, XVA (valuation adjustments for derivatives) and alternative investments. His practical thesis is titled “Valuation based on Fundamental Analysis to Design an Enhanced Index based on the JSE Top 40” and is due to be completed by the end of 2023. Nathan also completed an introductory course in machine learning called Machine Learning: Practical Applications from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He is responsible for supporting the THINK.CAPITAL investment decision making process through the analysis of potential and current underlying hedge funds as well as the overall risk monitoring of our solutions.

Other areas of responsibility include effective cash-flow management, operational due diligence, market research, fund reporting and preparation of client feedback documentation, and supporting the Portfolio Manager in the day-to-day management of funds.

DIRECTOR
JOHAN DU PREEZ

Johan is an experienced CEO and is well known for his turnaround expertise. He began his career in the USA (California, 1991) where he specialised in the turnaround of large retail “drug” stores (for American Drug Stores, a retail group that owned more than 700 stores). He then moved on to managed healthcare (medical insurance and risk management) and was part of a core team that created a national claims processor (RxAmerica) allowing pharmacies to submit their claims to medical insurers online and in real-time (via a satellite link).

Upon his return to South Africa he was instrumental in the turnaround of Sanlam Health (health insurance, CEO 1999 – 2001), led Glacier by Sanlam (retail investments, CEO 2002 – 2004) and headed the start-up of the financing company Quince Capital (CEO 2006 – 2009). He recently acted as the CEO of the then JSE listed pharmaceutical company Cipla Medpro South Africa (August 2012 to June 2013) and during this time concluded a R4.5bn transaction with Cipla India that saw the delisting of Cipla Medpro. During his involvement with the Sanlam group he served on the Executive committees of Sanlam Life and Sanlam Investment Management.

Johan obtained the degree M. Pharm in 1989 (University of Pretoria) and holds an MBA from National University in San Diego, California (1996).