Anneke Janse van Rensburg, Executive Assistant to Jane Rogers, Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Medical (Pty) Ltd, has been acknowledged as South Africa’s OPSA/Rexel SA National Office Professional of the Year. During a rigorous final round of judging, the five finalists in this years competition faced the panel of Edith Venter (Patron of OPSA), Janessa Leita (Director of Siyanqoba Seminars); Karmen Naicker (Marketing Manager Rexel Office Products South Africa – patron sponsor of the event), Theo Garrun (Editor, The Star Workplace); Pamela Khumalo (winner of last year’s competition and currently PA to the Group CEO of Telkom) and Samantha Brown (CEO of OPSA). Each finalist presented a prepared speech and had a one-on-one interview with the panel.
Like so many of us working woman, Anneke faces the challenge of balancing a demanding career and a young family. Anneke credits her boss for mentoring her in many areas of her job, and for supporting her growth in her career. Besides carrying out her normal PA functions Anneke has also taken on the responsibility for all external and internal communications for her organisation which has given her the opportunity to expand her horizons and stretch her skills. Anneke started a forum in 2008 for secretaries and administrators in her organisation and is looking to expand this to their sister company Janssen Cilag and their consumer outlet based in Cape Town.
For Anneke, being an office professional is a career of which she feels very strongly about, and which sadly is sometimes undervalued and misunderstood. She wants to encourage all office professionals to see that their careers offer wonderful opportunities for growth, recognition and satisfaction. She has committed to using her title to changing the misconception around the secretarial profession and to bring about more recognition for her peers. She wants to encourages office professionals to accept that it is okay to be a PA for the rest of your life, as long as you make sure that you strive to be the best you can be.
The Award is open to all office professionals in South Africa, and is widely recognized as South Africa’s most prestigious and longest standing award to recognize South Africa’s outstanding secretarial talent. It also provides an opportunity for entrants to measure themselves against’ the country’s best and to take on the challenge to develop and grow towards being the best!