🏛️
Ownership Chain
HL Hall & Sons Group
Ultimate Parent Company
Established family business, diversified holdings
Parent
Halls Investments
Investment arm of HL Hall & Sons
Long-term equity stakes in IT, financial services, fresh produce
Holding Co.
Lightstone (Pty) Ltd
Operating Company · Est. 2005
Information, valuations & data solutions
Level 2 B-BBEE · Property + Auto + Retail + Business
Operating Entity
Halls Group Board of Directors
Hayley Newton-Holroyd
Non-Exec Chair
Tracey Davies
Group CEO
Appointed March 2022
Mark Forrester
Non-Exec Director
Duncan Harrison
Non-Exec Director
Poloko Leotlela
Non-Exec Director
Jono Swart
Non-Exec Director
👥
Lightstone Executive Leadership
Managing Directors — Business Clusters
🏠 Property Cluster
Sara Winstone — Managing Director
- Former Lightstone Property CFO
- 20 years across UK, Australia, SA property/banking
- Chartered Accountant, Honours Finance & Economics
- At Lightstone since 2013
- → PRIMARY contact for AI proposal engine deal
🏡 Real Estate (under Property)
Hayley Ivins-Downes — Managing Executive, Real Estate
- Closest to the estate agent user base
- Day-to-day real estate product decisions
- → KEY for product validation & user pain points
🚗 Auto Cluster
Paul Marshall — Managing Director
- Previously MD of Lightstone Property
- CA(SA), BBusSci Finance
- 6+ years at Lightstone
- Strategy, operations, people management
🛒 Retail Cluster
Mohit H Narotam — Managing Director
- Built Sawubona → evolved into Lightstone Retail
- Actuarial science + economics background
- Consumer, geospatial, and movement data specialist
💼 Business Cluster
Trevor Holmes — Managing Director
- Lightstone Business (lightstonebusiness.co.za)
- B2B data and analytics solutions
C-Suite & Functional Heads
🧠 Chief Analytics Officer
Paul-Roux de Kock
- Leads data science & BI innovation
- Owns AI strategy — 11 years at Lightstone
- BCom Insurance (Actuarial) + BCom Hons Econometrics
- → CRITICAL — can champion or block the deal
🖥️ Systems & Platform
De Villiers du Toit — Head of Systems Architecture
- Platform business transformation lead
- Multiple dev teams across all industries
- BSc Computer Science + MIT Sloane Digital Transformation
- → Technical integration gatekeeper
🔧 CIO
George Palmer
- IT infrastructure, cloud, networks, security
- BCom Computer Science + MIT Sloane Digital Transformation
- Database, infra, and cyber security teams
📣 Marketing
Musa Nhlapo — Head of Marketing
- Brand, marketing, external comms
- BCom Marketing + BA International Relations
- Co-branded GTM partner post-deal
👤 People & HR
Nhlanhla Mabuza — Head of People
- HR strategy, change management
- Qualified Life Coach + PCC Coaching
⚠️ Important Notes on Entity Structure
"Lightstone" operates multiple public-facing brands/entities. The organogram above maps to:
- lightstone.co.za — Main corporate site (this organogram's source)
- lightstoneproperty.co.za — Property-specific data portal for agents
- lightstonebusiness.co.za — Trevor Holmes' B2B cluster
- hlhalls.com — Parent group website (board data source)
- hallsinv.co.za — Halls Investments (equity holding entity)
The legal entity for any equity deal is likely Lightstone (Pty) Ltd or a specific cluster entity. CIPC records should be pulled to confirm the exact registration and shareholding structure before any formal engagement.
🎯
Who Actually Matters — Power Map
| Person |
Power Level |
Role in This Deal |
Priority |
| Sara Winstone |
🔴 Decision Maker |
Owns the P&L this product affects. Her buy-in = deal lives. |
#1 MUST REACH |
| Paul-Roux de Kock |
🔴 Champion or Blocker |
Owns AI strategy. Must frame as augmenting, not competing. |
#2 CRITICAL |
| Tracey Davies |
🔴 Final Authority |
Group CEO signs off equity deals. Engage after internal buy-in. |
#3 ESCALATION |
| Hayley Ivins-Downes |
🟡 Validator |
Closest to agents. Best person for product demo + validation. |
#4 VALIDATE |
| De Villiers du Toit |
🟡 Gatekeeper |
Technical feasibility sign-off. Integration complexity assessment. |
#5 TECHNICAL |
| John Williams |
🟡 Commercial |
CFO for the equity/financial terms negotiation. |
#6 COMMERCIAL |