Full Name: Andrew Phillip Barton
Position: CEO De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM)
Main Activity of the Company: Diamond mining and trading
Date and Place of Birth: April 19, 1962, Cape Town
Education: BCom, AGA, MBA
First Job: Finance clerk, Department of Posts and Telecommunications
Size of First Monthly Pay Packet: R325
Value of Assets under Your Control: R15-billion
Number of People under Your Leadership: 2 600 (own employees), 4 000 (contractors, including at the Venetia underground mine project)
Management Style: Participative, empowering and supportive
Personal Best Achievement: Being part of a fantastic team that is successfully leading De Beers operations in South Africa out of the global recession and into the future
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My wife
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Every manager that I ever worked for, good and bad
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: It would have been Cecil John Rhodes
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Steve Jobs
Philosophy of Life: Be open-minded, tolerant, amusing and good company
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Taking over as CFO of DBCM at the height of the global recession
Biggest Ever Disappointment: Not being able to share some of my success with my late father, who passed away in 1992
Hope for the Future: A peaceful, prosperous South Africa
Favourite Reading: Jeffrey Archer
Favourite TV Programme: Sport (and Binnelanders)
Favourite Food/Drink: Leg of lamb, any good red wine
Favourite Music: An open ear to the familiar
Favourite Sport: Cricket
Hobbies: Clay pigeon shooting and weekend cooking
Car: Land Rover
Pets: My daughter’s Jack Russell (we share a house with him!)
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Long-winded people
Married: To Verna, for over 30 years
Children: Berna, Carel, Elaine and Jenny
Clubs: Kimberley Club