Carina Wessels: Pioneering Excellence in Legal and Business Leadership

Meet Carina Wessels from the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Carina is a legal veteran, an experienced international and local non-executive director, an audit committee member, a keynote speaker, and a featured writer. She holds an LLB and two LLM degrees: Labour Law and Extractive Industry Law in Africa, a Certificate in Advanced Labour Law, PMD, and an Advanced Management Programme from the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Early Years and Career Pursuits

Carina’s journey towards excellence has been quite unconventional, which she believes has significantly contributed to her growth and the opportunities she has encountered. She ventured into selling cost recovery software to attorneys, while studying law. Surprisingly, most of the lawyers Carina interacted with expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs, prompting her to explore alternative avenues. Subsequently, she transitioned to a role as a client services manager at a hospital. However, this stint was short-lived, lasting only six months, as she soon realized that her passion for law was the primary driving force behind her career aspirations.

Carina found herself drawn to the corporate world, where she initially specialized in labor law before delving into corporate governance and commercial law. Over the years, she gained diverse experience across various domains such as Human Resources, Finance, Risk Management, Business Improvement, Project Management, and later Corporate Secretariat, Governance, Executive Management, and Sustainability.

During her nine-year tenure with De Beers and subsequent period with Investec, Carina got the opportunity to broaden her expertise. In 2011, at the age of 33, she secured her first executive appointment at Exxaro. During her tenure at Exxaro, she also took on the responsibility of managing legal services, prompting her to pursue a second master’s degree in Extractive Industry Law in Africa. Upon joining Alexforbes, her role expanded rapidly to encompass governance, legal, compliance, and sustainability.

The Inspiration Behind Joining Alexforbes

Carina spent most of her career in the mining industry. However, she felt that industry diversification was necessary, leading to her considering Alexforbes as a challenging opportunity. Joining the company proved to be far more rewarding than Carina had ever imagined. She arrived at an exciting time of strategic transformation and growth, and she was privileged to play a meaningful role in this process.

“Beyond the transformation of Alexforbes, I was transformed into what I believe to be the best version of myself,” Carina says.

Leadership Philosophy

Carina characterizes her leadership style as authentic transformational leadership, while also being adaptable and tailoring her approach to suit the dynamics of her team members.

“I believe my authenticity has become more prominent throughout my career. I also hope that I have transitioned from focusing on having the right answers earlier in my career to asking the right questions. I continue to evolve through learning, unlearning, and relearning,” she recalls.

Mentoring and Nurturing Future Leaders 

At Alexforbes, formal processes play an essential role in the development ecosystem. However, Carina believes that an even more valuable skill for employees is the ability to confidently and comfortably approach colleagues they resonate with or whom they recognize as having admirable qualities. Mentorship beyond these formal structures is strongly encouraged, with many leaders dedicating significant time to nurturing a wide range of staff members. Beyond Alexforbes, Carina regularly receives mentorship requests from young professionals on LinkedIn and makes it a priority to engage in meaningful discussions with them.

Nurturing a Strong Organizational Culture 

Central to Carina’s leadership philosophy is the cultivation of a shared purpose within the team, one that aligns with and supports the overarching organizational objectives. Throughout her career, Carina has encouraged her teams to adopt a mindset where they prioritize being business-oriented professionals first, with their legal, governance, or compliance expertise as secondary. This emphasis on business principles, continuous improvement, and client-centricity has been a cornerstone of the culture within the team and their collective success. Within her team, Carina also upholds values such as trust, transparency, honesty, passion, and an exceptional work ethic as non-negotiable.

Collaboration between Governance, Legal, and Compliance Functions

Carina leads the team at Alexforbes, focusing on setting clear expectations and instilling a commitment to excellence. This approach creates a culture where every team member is empowered to contribute their best and collaborate with others, ultimately driving organizational success.

The team has also implemented resource sharing, contributing to efficiency and collaboration, cross-skilling, and succession bench strength.

The Key Organizational Priorities for Alexforbes

One of the objectives is to deliver on the growth aspirations organically and inorganically. Carina’s role extends beyond managing the legal M&A components to collectively driving the strategy with the CEO and CFO. The GLCS team plays an enabling role in organic growth with Carina specifically driving the new Impact Advisory offering, focusing on delivering forward-thinking sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) insights and advice to retirement funds and corporate clients. Building this new business line into a sustainable revenue contributor is one of her key focus areas in the short to medium term.

Overcoming the Legal Issues

In pondering some of the most difficult challenges in her career, like complex and highly sensitive executive investigations, dismissals, and related litigation, she suggests these require not only technical legal expertise but also nerves of steel and strength of conviction.

Furthermore, managing several complex M&A transactions, including a particularly challenging one with a US counterparty during the initial negative market responses to COVID-19. The transaction, as per the contract, no longer made commercial sense due to the impact of Covid-19. Despite spending months negotiating an agreement, Carina and her team had to completely renegotiate the transaction within 48 hours. Although they successfully terminated the agreement, they still needed to hold a shareholder meeting to approve a secondary component of a related transaction. As a result, Alexforbes held the first fully electronic shareholder meeting in South Africa shortly after the initial hard lockdown.

Emerging Technologies 

Regarding emerging technologies in legal and compliance functions, the increased use of generative AI is significant. This is particularly notable in advising business, especially on intellectual property ownership and protection in cases where content is created using AI.

The Evolving Role of Governance

Some companies still see governance as a formality, without realizing its importance in fostering an ethical culture, driving sustainable performance, maintaining effective control, and establishing legitimacy. With the continuously increasing regulation in this area, Carina hopes that the understanding and adoption of best governance practices will continue to improve. However, the growing regulation might also lead to more superficial compliance rather than genuine recognition of the value of good governance. “To encourage a positive evolution in corporate governance, we require ethical leaders who are motivated by more than just compliance but also have a deep understanding of value creation, impact, and sustainability. This will help create a better and more sustainable future,” Carina shares.

Empowering the Organization for Future Changes

Carina believes that, to stay relevant and provide value, it is essential to have exposure and experience beyond technical or regulatory expertise. This means having a broad range of knowledge and skills, referred to as a T-shaped professional.

Significant Role of Governance in Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Despite being separate components, Carina sees ESG as interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Strong governance is also a critical aspect of most sustainability-focused frameworks and reporting guidelines, making it unlikely that these can be effectively implemented without supporting governance structures and principles.