Eikos is managed by a strong team of insurance and finance professionals, with an average of 25 years experience in the marine, transportation, risk management and insurance sector, both within South Africa and internationally. Each has established individual reputations of high regard in their areas of expertise.

Tony is an internationally recognised risk management professional, with the reputation of being commercially innovative and technically astute. This reputation has been enhanced by the publication of 3 editions of a definitive text on developments in the risk management industry, published in South Africa and London.

Tony began his career in marine underwriting followed by a time spent as a shipping and commodity broker. An 8 year stint of academic tenure was followed by the opportunity to put into practice, as a consultant, the principles of alternative risk financing Tony had been researching. He was the C.E.O of Corporate Risk Management Ltd and Integrated Risk Consultants during his 18-year career with the Price Forbes Group. In 1996, Tony took the concept abroad into the European market and the international arena, consulting to East Asian corporations as well. A long held vision of an independent, integrated risk management consultancy was realised when the Eikos Group of companies was formed in 1999. That initiative saw the group expanding with the acquisition of an insurance license and the merging of GRMS into the Eikos stable.

Tony remains at the cutting edge of developments within the risk management discipline, developing innovative solutions and tailored products in a highly competitive and complex market, frequently contributing to significant reduction in cost-of-risk for clients.

Louis Ferreira

After matriculating in 1970 he enrolled as a national serviceman and did various camps including border duty. In 1972 he enrolled for a Bachelors of Commerce degree at the Free State University, majoring in Statistics and Economics. He graduated in 1974. In 1975 he was employed by the then Department of Statistics whilst he was studying part-time towards his Master of Business Administration. He graduated in 1977 and his thesis was titled: The financing of property development.

In 1979 Louis joined Mercabank Limited as an investigating accountant after spending three years with Buchner Properties in property development and administration. At the bank he was exposed to feasibility studies and investigations for possible investments. The training and exposure was invaluable and paved the way for further development into mergers and acquisitions as well as listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Experience was gained over a broad spectrum of industries. In some of these industries Louis was responsible for the management of the operations. Management would include the buying of insurance.

Whilst at the bank Louis lectured part-time at various academic institutions in subjects like marketing, statistics, accounting and production.

Louis left the bank in 1984 to join Jan Erasmus at Sege (Pty) Ltd - the holding company of Prestasi Brokers (Pty) Ltd where he was introduced to insurance from a broker and insurer perspective. The entrepreneur in Louis was stimulated during his employment at Sege and he set up companies like PrestMarine, PrestCom and PrestasiTrust. The management style was not compatible with Louis’ serious and responsible way of doing things and he left to consult in his private capacity. During this period Louis furthered his studies at The Rand Afrikaans University in Accounting and Tax and consulted in tax, accounting and computer systems to medium and small businesses. Louis realised that the interaction on an intellectual and stimulating level with peers of the same ilk was important for further development and he joined Anthony Valsamakis (Tony) at Corporate Risk Management (Pty) Ltd in 1988.

In 1990 Louis became managing director of CRM Risk Finance Consultants which incorporated captive management. He managed a team of thirty consultants and administrative staff. The contingency policies were designed and sold as the first phase in the development of a risk financing programme. Together with Tony a very successful training and seminar programme in risk management was run, clients included Transnet.

In 1993 following the restructuring of CRM Risk Finance Consultants, Louis was appointed managing director of Integrated Risk Finance Consultants (Pty) Ltd (IRC) and R&I Management Services (Pty) Ltd. (RIMS). IRC concentrated on risk finance consulting including captive feasibility studies and the setting up of captives whilst RIMS focused on onshore captive management and acting as agents for offshore captive managers. The roles include the servicing of clients and the liaison with authorities in all captive locations including South Africa. In 1995 Louis completed an Executive Development Programme through The University of Cape Town.

During Louis’s term of close on ten years as managing director at IRC/RIMS a compounded return of more than 30% per annum was achieved and the premium handled in the last year in this position exceeded R1billion. A staff of 45 people reported to Louis.

On 1 May 1999 Louis joined Eikos Risk Applications (Pty) Ltd as partner and director.

Des Vernon

A prominent Risk Management figure on the South African and international scene, Des has over 40 years of experience in insurance having "made it" as an insurer, "sold it" as a broker and "bought it" as an In-house Risk Manager.

Des is a fellow of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa and a founder member and past Vice President of the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA), Des is the Chairman of the International Federation of Insurance Management Associations (IFRIMA) and was a member of the Minister's Short-Term Insurance Advisory Committee. Director of various companies, Des has also published many articles in the Risk Management field.

Victor Vaz

Born in Mozambique in 1951, he was educated in South Africa at the Marist Brothers school in Observatory, where he matriculated in 1968.

Victor commenced his professional life initially pursuing studies in Civil Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand and then for a year at the University of Natal. However he found his real interest in the Marine Insurance Industry after joining Stangen in 1973. Hence commenced a career in the industry that has spanned some 25 years.

Following a brief period at Stangen he joined the Price Forbes Group, where he enjoyed a long and successful career. This time has culminated in the next obvious progression to establishing, in partnership with several other professionals, a partnership-owned independent consultancy and professional Services Company, in the form of Eikos.

During his career to date Victor has been responsible for growing a company, of which he was the Managing Director for 6 years, by 500 percent in profits and increasing the staff complement by 110 percent.

Victor has shown particular skills in redefining approaches to particular challenges within the Marine/ Transportation industry. This ability is manifested in his experience, observation and analytical skills that enable him to significantly reduce costs to clients by identifying inefficiencies and cost duplications in their processes. The value of innovations of this sort has been recognised by the legal (marine), insurance and freight industry fraternities.

He then realised that further reductions in cost could be achieved if the processing function were to be separated from the design aspect of client service. Victor has revolutionised administrative mechanisms around centralised process management and decentralised client relationships.

In conjunction with a major motor manufacturer Victor was the recipient of a National Productivity Award for the cost effectiveness of his transportation risk management techniques. The company in question yielded record savings as a direct result of introducing innovations managed by a committee of professionals, convened by Victor. A number of other major players in the industry have adopted company specific solutions through this approach with significant positive impacts on their profit margins.

By virtue of keeping ahead of market trends Victor is at the cutting edge of developments within his field. As a creative consultant Victor is able to create uniquely tailored products in a highly competitive market.

Victor is a professional and enthusiastic speaker due to his knowledge of theory and practice in the Transportation sector.His strengths lie in an ability to analyse the history of the traditional approach to cargo risks, and identify the inherent inefficiencies and misconceptions that prevail, whilst predicting future market demands for efficient trade solutions.

Hugh Reimers

South African born and bred Hugh was educated in Johannesburg Cape Town and Durban. Post-matric qualifications are the AIISA and a Diploma in Business Management.

After a few years in the Airforce and with The Standard Bank of South Africa Hugh joined what was then the Price Forbes Federale Volksbelegings Group in Durban (in 1980) as a trainee in their Marine Dept

With the exception of two years during which he dabbled in marine claims assessing and recoveries and a six-month lesson in how not to run his own business Hugh developed through the ranks of the Forbes group to Deputy Managing Director of their Transportation Risk Management division.

During this time experience was gained in all aspects of marine and transportation risk management and in alternative risk transfer mechanics.

In 1999 Hugh left the Forbes Group to help establish Eikos Risk Applications.

Hugh is married to Patricia (Trish) and has two wonderful children Brett born in 1986 and Lauren born in 1988.

Outside interests include SCUBA diving where Hugh has qualified as a Divemaster and has introduced his entire family to the sport.

Hiking, birding and the occasional game of golf are additional spare time activities

Hemraj Sewbalas

Hemraj was born in Durban and attended Avoca Secondary School

In 1974 Hemraj joined the shipping industry as a claims clerk. He was promoted to senior section leader in 5 years.

1981 head hunted by Price Forbes as part of their claims team in Johannesburg. Transferred to Durban branch in 1982. Integral part of the management team responsible for the transformation of a marine insurance department to a business unit called Transportation Risks Management Services with a national infrastructure employing 105 members of staff. He held the position of Joint Deputy Managing Director. His focus has been on providing the Cargo Owner and Freight Operator with solutions to their transportation risk.

In 1999 he was offered an opportunity to join an international team of dynamic people at Eikos Risk Applications, which he accepted.

Hemraj does community service, is interested in nature conservancy and enjoys sport.

	Sean Pyott
	Position:		Finance/Operations/IT
	Direct Line:		27 (0)11 771 5462
	E-mail:		pyotts@eikos.co.za

Sean Pyott

After matriculating in 1986 Sean enrolled for a Bachelors of Commerce degree at the University of the Witwatersrand majoring in Computer Science. In 1990 Sean graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Computer Science from the University of the Witwatersrand. Sean has a Certificate of Proficiency at the Insurance Institute of South Africa

In 1986 he joined Price Forbes Marine as a Consultant on IT systems and system development. Between 1986 and 1994, Sean performed IT and systems consultation mainly in the insurance arena.

In 1994 he joined Price Forbes TRMS as a Manager and then Director responsible for IT systems and infrastructure. In 1998 Sean became Macro Projects Director for Price Forbes and was responsible for system development for Price Forbes.

In 1999 Sean joined Eikos Risk Applications as director responsible for IT systems and infrastructure, project management and processes.

Sean is currently the director responsible for finance, compliance, IT and operations at Eikos.