Mary Vilakazi

Mary Vilakazi (; born August 1977) is a South African businesswoman and chartered accountant who has been chief executive officer of FirstRand since April 2024. Before joining FirstRand as chief operating officer in 2018, she was deputy chief executive officer at MMI Holdings and a partner at PwC.

Early life and education Vilakazi was born in August 1977. She was born and raised in Alexandra, a township outside Johannesburg. Her mother was a bookkeeper. She attended primary school in Alexandra, but, supported by a Rotary Fund scholarship,

Career Vilakazi completed her articles of clerkship as a chartered accountant at auditing firm PwC, She remained at PwC thereafter and in 2005, aged 27, was promoted to partner in its Cape Town office.

Later in 2018, Vilakazi left MMI to join FirstRand as chief operating officer. She took up her new position on 1 April 2024. She was FirstRand's first woman CEO, its second black CEO after Sizwe Nxasana, and the first woman to lead a major South African bank since Maria Ramos's departure from Absa.

Honours and awards In 2016, Vilakazi was named as one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders. For her leadership in the South African financial services sector, she received the Greg Boyd Award at the 2024 Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals Awards.

Personal life She is married to Zeblon Vilakazi, an academic whom she met at Witwatersrand University as a student and who became vice chancellor of the university in 2021. They have three children. Her eldest daughter, Kamogelo, died in a car accident in 2015, aged 20.