Mark Dare

Director 

As Executive Director Mark overseas the management and business development.

Mark brings guidance and expertise in leading effective teams, improving processes and providing strong operational and financial leadership to all business units.

Mark’s predominant focus has been on business development and the creation of strategic alliances having particular expertise in business transformation and restructuring.

Kobus Vermeulen

Director

Co-founding partner of Cedar Connect, as a boutique information technology consultancy in 2010, with the mission of providing exceptional IT skills and knowledge to both local and global clients.

Kobus has worked in the UK and South Africa in the IT Industry over the last 20 years, this brings a wealth of experience to his role as Account director and team leader where he maintains a close relationships with Cedar Connect’s clients and employees. 

Having strong technical skills, Kobus overseas the technical development and building of Contraccloud. Specialising in understanding business from the technical side he is well versed in Dynamic 365 CRM, Microsoft SQL Server, Analysis, Software Development, ASP.NET, Visual Studio, T-SQL and more recently the AWS environment.

Jason Baretta

Operations and Account Manager 

Jason manages our clients on the Operations and Account side, he is a skilled communicator who successfully services clients in the Financial, Software and Fintech sector. Jason previously resided in London for 8 years where he gained sales management experience in the residential investment property market of managed client portfolios.

Jason has exceptional collaboration and process management skills and is responsible for the customer relationship management portfolio. He is extremely invested in the development of the business to ensure successful project delivery to our valuable clients.

Brendon Voogt

Chairperson

Brendon co-founded Cedar Connect in 2010, as a boutique information technology consultancy, with the mission of providing exceptional IT skills and knowledge to both local and global clients.

Brendon spent 12 years in the UK, where he founded and managed an IT company that grew from a start-up to a well-established business with three offices employing over 70 staff.

In 2004, Brendon was appointed UK Operations Director for 1st Contact Limited before returning to South Africa as 1st Contact’s Managing Director in 2007.

Along with Cedar Connect, Brendon has co-founded and sits on the boards of Northwind Capital, Currency Partners and Merchant Partners.

Zama Khanyile

Independent Director

Zama is a qualified Chartered Accountant with an Honours degree in Accounting from the University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University). She is currently a Fund Manager with the National Empowerment Fund, while also holding a board position at the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) Forum.

After completing her articles at KPMG, she was selected to become an Audit Manager within KPMG’s Information and Consumer Markets business unit where she led audit teams, handled fee negotiations and managed client relationships.

Zama is passionate about community upliftment, especially that of young African females. She is a mentor under the Campaign for Girls, which is a holistic development initiative that identifies talented, young girls with leadership potential and empowers

Mark Dare

Director 

Mark serves on the board of Northwind, Cedar Connect and Sikelelo Training. As Executive Director Mark overseas the management and business development.

Mark brings guidance and expertise in building effective teams and leaders, improving processes and providing strong operational and financial leadership to all business units. Mark’s predominant focus has been on business development and the creation of strategic alliances having particular expertise in business transformation and restructuring.

Prior to joining Northwind, Mark worked as both CEO and COO in the print and publishing sector and was Managing Director of Trident Press a company instrumental in the growth of the prepaid cellular industry. Over his 34-year career, Mark has overseen large and diverse staffs and multiple departments including finance, accounting, human resources, and operations.