Deon de Kock appointed to lead Babcock’s operations in Africa
Effective January 2026, Deon de Kock has been appointed Chief Executive – Africa at Babcock. An accomplished global business leader with more than 30 years of executive experience across industries and continents, De Kock is tasked with providing strategic direction and operational focus to support the growth of the business across the region.
De Kock takes over from Roger O’Callaghan after more than two decades of leading Babcock Africa, effective January 2026.
De Kock brings a wealth of global executive experience across the mining, engineering, industrial and energy sectors. He has previously held senior roles in large organisations and major multinationals, including President for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South Asia at FLSmidth, and Vice President for South Europe, North Africa and the Middle East at Sandvik.
He most recently served as CEO of Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy at Reunert Limited. Throughout his career, he has led large-scale transformation programmes and operational turnarounds across the mining, engineering, construction and industrial sectors in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Deon holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and an MBA from Bond University, Australia.
In his first three months at the helm, De Kock has had a positive impression of the business, particularly the company’s culture, which promotes a supportive environment and high-performance mindset that encourages innovation, employee development and diversity.
“In today’s leadership environment, alignment is everything. For me, cultural fit goes beyond surface-level similarity and is really about alignment with a company’s principles and how its people work together to deliver. Babcock’s strong people focus and collaborative culture resonate with my people first style of leadership,” says De Kock. De Kock says his immediate focus is on supporting operational performance across the business and ensuring Babcock continues to deliver consistent value to its customers across the region. He notes that building on the company’s strong engineering capability and maintaining disciplined execution will remain important priorities as the business continues to grow its presence in key sectors.
A people-centric approach, he says, is essential because sustainable, long-term business performance is driven by employees who feel valued, engaged and supported. For De Kock, a human-centric approach to leadership hinges on several pillars, but more importantly on talent development – something close to his heart.
In his new role, De Kock is focused on strengthening a robust talent pipeline, cultivated through continuous development, ensuring that the workforce has the capability to innovate and respond to evolving customer needs.
He commends Babcock for taking the lead in skills development. Babcock invests heavily in skills development to ensure a sustainable pipeline of talent for its engineering and technical sectors, allowing the business to meet the complex needs of its customers and maintain a competitive advantage.
Recognising the difficulty in finding niche engineering and technical skills, Babcock uses structured programmes, including the Babcock Graduate Programme and apprenticeships, to train its own professionals in line with industry requirements.
“I am glad that I am joining a business that has a solid foundation for talent development. We shall build on the existing structures and programmes in order to accelerate people development thus ensuring the growth of our people and the retention of our top-performing talent,” concludes De Kock.
