Holly Lufele joins Santam as executive head of human capital

Sphumelele Khumalo 10 September 2026

Holly Lufele has joined Santam as executive head of human capital.

She joins the insurer from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she was global HR leader from 2022.

Before joining AWS, Holly was the senior human capital business partner for global markets at Rand Merchant Bank.

Her previous roles include HR business partner for digital & data at Old Mutual South Africa and several human capital roles at Standard Bank Group.

At Standard Bank, she held positions including human capital business partner for Africa Regions, human capital business partner for information & data management, HR business partner for business & commercial banking and HR consultant in personal banking.

She began her career at Edcon, where she worked as an HR consultant after starting out as an HR trainee.

Holly holds a bachelor of social science in organisational psychology and management and a bachelor of social science honours in management from Rhodes University.

Sphumelele Khumalo

Sphumelele Khumalo is the senior writer for CHRO South Africa. With a background in health journalism, she brings a passion for storytelling and an interest in exploring the human side of every story, one word at a time. When she’s not meeting deadlines, you might find her experimenting in the kitchen, or chasing sunsets.

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