SOUTH AFRICA LEADERSHIP TEAM

Mr. Niranjan Nadkarni is the Chief Executive Officer of South & Southeast Asia, Middle East & Africa (ASMEA) Region since July 1, 2017. As of Jan 1, 2025, he assumed the additional role of CEO, TÜV SÜD Middle East and TÜV SÜD Middle East LLC.

As a CEO of one of the most diverse regions, his area of focus is to strengthen the company’s value offering by leveraging on personnel and business competencies available across the region. Under his leadership, aligned to the Group’s focus, the region has made significant investments and progress in digital transformation initiatives and commitment to initiatives and services supporting sustainable development.

With over three decades of experience, Niranjan started his career with SKF Bearings India Pvt. Ltd. In 1995, he made an unconventional move to join a five-member team at TÜV SÜD. He then qualified to become a Lead Auditor for management system certification ISO 9001, QS 9000, VDA 6.1 and TS 16949. During this tenure, he performed audits and training in many markets globally, such as USA, Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, ASEAN, and South Asia.

In 1998, he was appointed the head of South India region for TÜV SÜD South Asia. After managing this portfolio for over eight years, Niranjan was appointed as Vice President- Product Services, with the thrust to set up the Product Services portfolio in South Asia. He was instrumental in establishing a network of state-of-the-art laboratories for food, textiles, and leather and planning and implementation of the market expansion strategy. In 2009, he was appointed CEO of TÜV SÜD South Asia, responsible for the firm’s operations across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Under his leadership until 2023, the sub region witnessed double digit growth and built an impressive footprint around digital transformation initiatives. 1 July, 2017, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of South & Southeast Asia, Middle East & Africa (ASMEA) Region. In 2025, He was given the additional responsibility of leading Middle East region as the CEO of the region and TÜV SÜD Middle East LLC . He is also the Member of Board of Management of TÜV SÜD Bangladesh Private limited, TÜV SÜD Middle East and TÜV SÜD PSB Pte. Ltd.

Brought up in Mumbai, Niranjan is a Mechanical Engineer and has a Masters’ degree in Management from Pune University in India. He has also attended modules on Strategy Management, Leadership and Change and Fit4Digital at Executive School of Management, St. Gallen, Switzerland. He is an avid reader and enjoys travelling and cross-country trekking. He is very passionate about nurturing and developing talent and strongly believes in the power of an inclusive and diverse workforce for building a sustainable and responsible business.

LinkedIn Profile : Niranjan Nadkarni

Mr. Klaus Langner was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the TÜV SÜD South & South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa region on July 1, 2017. In this role, he is responsible for financial and risk management, corporate development, strategic planning, performance management and corporate governance in this vast and diverse market. Prior to this appointment, Klaus was the CFO for the ASEAN region at TÜV SÜD.

Before joining TÜV SÜD, Klaus was a Partner & Managing Director at a leading strategy consulting firm, The Boston Consulting Group, and brings 16 years of experience in consulting top management on corporate and business unit strategy. He also served as a consultant for the United Nations World Food Program in East Timor and is a passionate advocate for non-profit causes related to improving children welfare, education, disaster and humanitarian relief.

After living in Germany and the United States, Klaus has been based in Singapore since 2001 and worked throughout Asia Pacific. He holds an MBA with distinction from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Masters in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Ferose Oaten is the joint CEO of TÜV SÜD South Africa, responsible for the divisions of Mobility and Business Assurance (Management System Certifications). She has been in this role since October 2014. She serves as an Executive Director on the various TÜV SÜD legal entities in South Africa. In 2010, TÜV SÜD partnered with her company, AVTS Roadworthy Stations to enter the market into South Africa, and this positive association continues today.

Ferose holds an Executive MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business. She serves on the Boards of industry bodies, like the Retail Motor Industry organisation in South Africa, as well as serving as the President for Africa of CITA (International Vehicle Inspection Committee), head-quartered in Brussels.

Chris Mbere is the Managing Director of TÜV SÜD Inspection Authority. Chris has been in the inspection of pressure equipment field since 1994, when he joined SASOL Synfuel. In 2005, he joined TUV Rheinland QC in their power generation division supporting the resident Inspectors at Eskom and Municipal power stations. In 2008, he was appointed as the Managing Director within the group until December 2019. During this time, he had the further responsibility of project managing the new built projects of Kusile and Medupi. Chris joined TÜV SÜD Inspection Authority as Quality Manager and is responsible for the Operations of the organisation.

Trained as an Artisan (Fitter) T3 in Mechanical Engineering at Vaal Triangle Technikon, he went on to become qualified in various roles, including Competent Pressure Vessels Inspector, Competent Boiler Inspector and Inspector of Pressurised Equipment. Chris also completed a MDP (Management Development Programme) in Cologne, Germany.

Makhup Nyama is a Non-Executive Director of TÜV SÜD South Africa, since 2015. He represents Kapela Investment Holdings on the TÜV SÜD Board. Kapela is a BEE Investment company with interests in various companies like, Marsh Africa, Xon and others. He joined Kapela in 2008, where he is a shareholder and Executive Director at Kapela. Makhup started his career with IBM as a Systems Engineer in the Financial Sector, and progressed by joining Telkom as their Regional Sales Manager. He then joined Argil Intellect as Managing Director in the Consulting Division, and the company went through a tremendous growth path. He joined Grintek Limited as the CEO of the Telecommunications Division, and went on to become the Group CEO of Saab Grintek, which under his leadership, grew more than 100% in turnover from 2004/5 to 2007.

Makhup holds a B.Com from the University of the North, a post-graduate diploma in Marketing, as well as an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand

Mark Gedult is the Managing Director and shareholder of TÜV SÜD South Africa Real Estate Services (Pty) Ltd, Consulting Lift and Escalator Engineers, which is a level 2 contributor to B-BBEE. Mark started his career at Otis Elevator Company in 1981 where he stayed for 18 years. He then joined WAC Projects in 2000, which was subsequently acquired by TÜV SÜD in 2013.

Mark holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the UCT Graduate School of Business (2008), Diploma in Business Management from Damelin Business School (1993), National ‘N’ Diploma from Athlone Technical College (1992). He is a Registered Lift Inspector with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and is registered as a Technical Assessor (Inspection Bodies) for SANAS (South African National Accreditation System)

Desmond Muchetu leads the Digital Academy Division at TÜV SÜD South Africa, overseeing training solutions based on various management system standards and related industry topics. The Academy offers virtual learning, face-to-face training and self paced e-learning courses tailored to industry needs.

Appointed in February 2025, Desmond brings a wealth of experience spanning three decades. He has worked across multiple sectors, including banking and medical insurance. Over the past ten years, he has been instrumental in driving the growth of training businesses within Certification Bodies.

Desmond is based at TÜV SÜD's regional office in Bedfordview, Johannesburg

Noor Samodien is the Mobility Manager for TÜV SÜD South Africa, based at the Head Office in Cape Town. His responsibilities include oversight and quality control over vehicle inspections, vehicle assessments for intake / buyback and remarketing appraisals. In addition, he is also responsible for IT Development, Training (courseware analysis and design) and Quality Management within Mobility.

Following his original course of study of Electrical Engineering (Light Current), he started with partner company AVTS Roadworthy Stations in 1994, and became an Examiner of Vehicles, and worked himself up through the ranks, becoming a Branch Manager, and then the Manager responsible for Operations. He was also qualified as a certified TÜV SÜD Vehicle Inspector in Frankfurt, Germany. He is registered Skills Development Facilitator, Assessor and Training Facilitator.

He was the Project Manager for the training of Vehicle Examiners in Port Louis, Mauritius over a 3-year period, and supported our client in the commissioning of a multi-lane automated vehicle examination centre from 2014 to 2016. Back home, he managed the implementation of Truck assessments using the TÜV SÜD IT Software system. Currently, his focus is on Remarketing Appraisals for a major OEM in South Africa.

He is married and has twin boys, enjoys good food and keeping fit.