Mark Lamberti

Mark James Lamberti (born August 4, 1950) is a South African-Italian businessman. He was the founder, former chief executive and later chairperson of Massmart. Lamberti also served as chief executive at Transaction Capital and Imperial Holdings Limited.

Early life and education
Lamberti was born in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, the first of five children to Antonio Amato (Tony) Lamberti and Catherine Julia (Betsy) Byrne.

He initially pursued a professional musical career for four years before he met and married his wife Annette and transitioned into business.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of South Africa (1984) and an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand (1987). Lamberti is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, having completed the Presidents’ Program in Leadership in 2001.

Career
Bradlows Limited (1980 – 1986)

Lamberti joined Bradlows Limited, a furniture retail chain, as a branch manager in Ladysmith. Over the next six years, he became the Operations and Marketing Director, responsible for the entire business besides finance and accounting.

Jazz Stores Limited (1986 – 1988)

Natie Kirsch and Mervyn King of Tradegro later recruited Lamberti to become a director of Jazz Stores, a supermarket chain targeted at low-income consumers. He was later appointed chief executive of Fairways Frasers, its largest division, where he was part of the team that listed Jazz Stores on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1987.

Massmart (1988 – 2014)

In August 1988, Lamberti became the Managing Director of the six-store Makro chain of warehouse club outlets, owned by Wooltru Group. He used the Makro asset to establish Massmart in 1990.

After Massmart was acquired by Walmart in 2011, Lamberti remained as non-executive chairperson at the behest of Walmart until he resigned in March 2014.

Transaction Capital (2008 – 2014)

In July 2008, Lamberti was appointed the chief executive at Transaction Capital Limited. He served as non-executive chairperson until March 4, 2014, when he resigned to serve as chief executive at Imperial Holdings Limited.

Imperial Holdings (2014 – 2018)

Lamberti joined Imperial Holdings Limited as chief executive on March 1, 2014, leading a turnaround initiative that resulted in the disposing of 42 companies and acquiring 52 properties, leading to the listing of Motus Limited and Imperial Logistics Limited on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Controversy
Lamberti resigned from Imperial Holdings shortly before the completion of the unbundling initiative and the separate listing of Motus Limited and Imperial Logistics Limited on April 30, 2018.

His resignation followed a court finding that he had impaired the dignity of Adila Chowan, a staff member in a subsidiary of Imperial Group, by referring to her as a “female employment equity” candidate earlier in 2015.

He apologised publicly to Chowan, saying, "My statement, intended to indicate attentiveness to the Employment Equity Act and society's expectations of business, was not malicious or meant to hurt or demean her in any way and I regret and apologise for any hardship that it caused.”

Media

 * 2018 - Win! Compelling Conversations with 20 Successful South Africans, by Maggs Jeremy. ISBN 9781431425648