User:Christo Visser/sandbox

Christo Visser was born on the 27th of November 1966 in a small town called Bethal, South Africa. Not far from the capital Pretoria.

Christo was the second child born to Frank and Susan Visser. Christo started his school years at HM Swart in Bethal before the family relocated to the capital Pretoria. There Christo attended the illustrious High School, Wonderboom with its magnificent views over the capital city. Christo finished his high school in 1984.

Military Career In January 1985, Christo joined the South African Defence Force, initially in Pretoria before transferring to the South African Intelligence School outside Kimberley in the North West Province of South Africa. Christo was recruited by the South African Defence Force, Military Intelligence Division, and joined the force permanently at the end of 1995 after completing his officers training at the Intelligence School. Christo was identified and recruited by the Military Intelligence Division with a career plan designed to become a Military Attache. Christo completed his initial officers training with the rank of second Lieutenant. Christo relocated from the Intelligence School to the Military Intelligence Training College in Pretoria.

In the middle of 1987 Christo relocated back to the Intelligence School in Kimberley and became an instructor with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant at the Intelligence School. At the beginning of 1988 Christo got promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and continued with his assignment at the Intelligence School. Whilst at the school, Christo continued with his own Military training toward the goal of becoming a Military attache.

At the end of 1988 the Intelligence School relocated from Kimberley to Potchefstroom. A town located two hours drive west of Johannesburg. A the beginning of 1989 Christo was promoted to the rank of Captain and was appointed as the Adjutant (Staff Officer) at the Intelligence School. Christo held this role until the beginning of 1991 when he was appointed at the Officer in Command of the Regimental Training Battalion. At the end of 1992, Christo was promoted to the rank of Major and relocated to the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) Command Head Quarters. At his appointed to the rank on 1992, Christo was the youngest Officer with the rank of Major in the South African Defence Force.

In Johannesburg, Christo was responsible for the Communications Operations within the Intelligence Division of the Command. This was a particularly testing time in the Republic of South Africa with apartheid unrest particularly rife in the Johannesburg area. Christo was the Official Spokesman for the South African Defence Force and faced the National and International media, some of which very hostile, on a daily basis.

At the end of 1994, Christo resigned from the South African Defence Force, after integration, to pursue other opportunities.

Property Development Between 1995 and 2001, Christo was involved in a range of property development ventures in South Africa. This provided the opportunity for Christo to relocate to Australia towards the middle of 2001.

Australia

Christo migrated to Australia and arrived on 31 October 2001. Christo initially settled on the Gold Coast where he completed his MBA in International Business. At the beginning of 2005 Christo relocated to Brisbane.

2005 - 2010: Business Development Manager for Bovis Lend Lease which afforded him his introduction into the Australian workforce. Christo remained at Lend Lease, except for a brief 3 month experiment at Built, until joining global construction giant Laing O'Rourke. Christo was Group Executive, Strategy and Business Development for Bovis Lend Lease in Qld, NT and Pacific before joining Laing O'Rourke in a similar role.

2010- 2012: Christo was the Group Executive of Strategy and Business Development for Laing O'Rourke Building and Infrastructure Divisions.

2012-2014: Christo joined global EPCM provider, WorleyParsons as Customer Account Manager for the Mineral and Metals division Qld, with specific accountability for BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore, etc.

2014-  Christo joined Ausenco a global Engineering company as Business Development Manager and in 2015, made Director Business Development for Ausenco's Australia/Africa/Asia/CIS/Russia region.

Sport etc

Christo has always excelled at fitness and sport. In South Africa until joining the Defence Force, Christo participated in Wrestling and was for a number of years the South African National Champion in his weight division. In the Defence Force Christo developed a passion for Cycling, which continue today. During Christo's time after the Military career he obtained his Private Pilots Licence (Including Night Rating). However Christo's passion is cycling and he has taken part in range of events (multiple days) across Australia.