Key Personnel
Francois (Pikkie) Siebrits
Acting Chief Executive Officer:
Francois (Pikkie) Siebrits
Pikkie joined the South African Air Force in 1970. He received his wings in 1971 on the Impala. He did instructors’ course on Harvards in 1974 and completed his instructor tour in 1979. He left the SAAF in November 2001 after successfully completing flying courses and tours on Impala, Mirage, Buccaneer and Boeing 707 aircraft.
He flew as a commercial pilot from 2002 – 2014, attaining just over 11,500 hours.
He started giving MCC and High Performance lectures to AIFA students on a part-time basis in 2014 and was appointed acting CEO of AIFA in February 2018.
Francois (Pikkie) Siebrits
CFO:
Steven (Shouhua) Dai
Steven holds a Masters Degree of Accounting from the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.
He joined AVIC-International situated in Beijing as an accountant and joined the AIFA team as CFO in South Africa during 2017.
He is primarily responsible for managing the financial risk of the company. He is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping as well as financial reporting to higher management.
Francois (Pikkie) Siebrits
HR Manager:
Vernon Van Niekerk
After matriculating in East London, Vernon completed a Bachelor Degree in Human Resources at the University of Free State.
He has worked in HR, IR and general finance for more than 15 years. He was previously employed by KFC, Wimpy and Engen.
He joined AIFA as HR manager in 2017.
His motto in life is: “We are in the people-business, empowering tomorrow’s leaders.”
Francois (Pikkie) Siebrits
Head of Training:
Andrea Griesel
Andrea obtained her pilot’s licence in 1997 in Bloemfontein. She lived and worked abroad for 6 years before returning to South Africa to continue her career in Aviation. Andrea holds a Diploma in Educational Development, is qualified in Aviation Quality Assurance, Aviation Safety Management as well as being a Grade II Multi-engine instructor.
She joined AIFA in 2011 as CFI of the Oudtshoorn base, a position she held for 3 years. She became head of Standards in 2014. She was appointed as Safety Manager in 2017 and became Head of Training in 2018.