Janis Cheadle considers herself a career retailer first, an ESG professional second, and a lawyer last! Through a series of serendipitous career choices Janis has gained an interesting basket of skills and experience, from commercial litigation, corporate governance and company secretariat, to sustainability and retail M&A.

Janis has spent the last 15 years in the listed retail environment, and currently leads the Mr Price group’s ESG centre of excellence, which includes the sustainability, legal, compliance, and ethics functions as well as the non-profit Mr Price Foundation. She is also the Mr Price company secretary, a position she has held for 8 years.

In her current role, Janis was a key member of the small deal team that closed 3 acquisitions (the biggest of which was ~R5bn) in less than three years, which she counts as a key achievement. In previous roles, Janis managed the legal due diligence for Walmart’s acquisition of a majority shareholding stake in Massmart, and Swiss Re’s transfer of their short-term insurance portfolio from SA to Switzerland.

Logic, pragmatism and being solution orientated are Janis’ key skills and she describes herself as a “puzzle-maker”, with the ability to join the dots and make sense of complexity while focussing on the bigger picture.