Mary Vilakazi (née Seemane; born August 1977) is a South African businesswoman and chartered accountant who has been chief executive officer of FirstRand since April 2024.
[2] She fell pregnant and gave birth during her final year of high school but nonetheless enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand,[2] where she completed a Bachelor of Commerce in 1999 and Honours in 2000.
[2][3] Between 2008 and 2011, she was chief financial officer of the Mineral Services Group, a mining services consultancy; she later said that she took the job in order to have more time with her eldest daughter, who was entering high school, and in order to work in an environment that was less corporate and more entrepreneurial.
[2][3] She was appointed as MMI's deputy chief executive officer in July 2017 and in subsequent months was considered as a candidate to succeed Nicolaas Kruger as chief executive officer; however, in February 2018, MMI announced that Kruger would be succeeded by an external candidate and that Jeanette Marais would be appointed as a second deputy chief executive to work alongside Vilakazi.
[3] On 4 October 2023, FirstRand announced that she would replace Ian Pullinger as chief executive officer.