Dis-Chem founder Ivan Saltzman has officially stepped down from his executive role at the pharmacy giant. He built the company from a single store into a healthcare empire worth billions. His exit closes a chapter that spans nearly five decades.
Saltzman, 76, retired as an executive director on 30 June 2026. However, he will remain on the board as a non-executive director and deputy chairman, according to businesstech.co.za. This follows his earlier exit as group CEO back in 2023, when then-CFO Rui Morais took over the top job. Chairman Jacques Nestadt said Saltzman’s passion for healthcare and operational excellence shaped the company’s culture. In turn, this laid the foundation for the business it has become.
The Dis-Chem story began in 1978. Saltzman and his wife, Lynette, both qualified pharmacists, pooled together R10,000 to buy a small pharmacy in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg. Saltzman had been working as a locum at the store at the time. He grew frustrated with how it was run, so he made an offer to buy it outright. That small purchase eventually grew into a JSE-listed retail and healthcare group. Today, it generates R42.8 billion in annual revenue, with operations spanning three countries.
Lynette had already stepped back from her executive director role in 2022. She shifted her focus to the group’s beauty category instead. Meanwhile, the couple’s exit from day-to-day leadership has continued through their children. Their son Saul resigned as an executive director earlier this year. Their other sons, Mark and Dan, received substantial company shares in 2025 as part of a restructuring of the family’s holding structure. Longtime executive Stanley Goetsch also left his executive role at the end of June. He worked alongside Saltzman for 42 years and helped steer the company’s growth.
The retirement lands at a milestone moment for the family. The Saltzmans have now cracked the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time. Their combined fortune is estimated at $1.3 billion. This places Ivan Saltzman among South Africa’s wealthiest businesspeople, alongside names like Johann Rupert and Patrice Motsepe.
Succession is never simple for a founder-led business, and Dis-Chem’s next chapter will be watched closely. South African retail has seen its share of cautionary tales. For example, Pick n Pay struggled with delayed succession planning, while turbulence followed Steinhoff’s collapse under Christo Wiese’s concentrated influence. Still, Morais has framed his leadership as a continuation of the founder’s vision rather than a break from it. He has spent more than 15 years at Dis-Chem. The board also says it still expects to lean on Saltzman’s institutional knowledge and strategic insight as the group enters its next growth phase.
Looking ahead, Dis-Chem’s leadership points to several avenues for growth. These include the maturing of its Better Rewards loyalty programme, a new app launch, and returns from its investment in the Bigly Labs data and AI ecosystem. The group also sees room to expand through CJ Distribution, along with its Dis-Chem Health and Dis-Chem Life divisions.
Ultimately, Saltzman’s retirement marks the end of one era. For a company built on a single pharmacy and a R10,000 gamble, it also marks the start of a familiar test: proving the business can outlast the person who built it.
