Johan Zietsman in

Johan Zietsman

Critic · DISC type C
Chief Executive Officer at Ex Mente
📍 Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

Johan is the Chief Executive Officer of Ex Mente, where he leads a team focused on metallurgical engineering. With a Ph. D. from the University of Pretoria, his expertise lies in pyrometallurgy, computational modeling, and system design across commodities like iron, steel, and platinum group metals.

He is driven by a forward-looking philosophy, questioning how to improve the future today. Johan believes in the importance of originality and embracing the risk of being wrong to achieve success and fulfillment. He actively mentors the next generation of engineers through his work with postgraduate students.

Unique fact: Johan enjoys taking on and encouraging what he calls "slightly ridiculous" projects, pushing the boundaries of traditional engineering challenges.

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Experience
24 Years
Current Role
Chief Executive Officer
Job Level
Leadership
Location
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Personality Overview

How Johan shows up

Information Seeker
ROI Driven
Precise

They prefer to analyze logically and value objective facts over emotions. They like to take decisions independently and do not seek others' support often. Unless the value is proven by data, they are unlikely to value fancy features.

Priorities

Topics Johan cares about

Pyrometallurgical Innovation
His career and recent posts focus on the dynamic and exciting future of pyrometallurgy, highlighting challenges and opportunities for 2025.
Computational Modelling
A core skill he applies in his work and a key research topic for the postgraduate students he supervises at the University of Pretoria.
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Career

Work history

10-2001
Chief Executive Officer
Ex Mente
3-2018
Member of the Advisory Board
EESTech Inc.
6-2016
Honorary Lecturer
University of Pretoria
2-2013 - 5-2016
Glencore Chair in Pyrometallurgical Modelling, Senior Lecturer
University of Pretoria
Consultant
White Peak Consulting
In the press

Media appearances

No media yetWe could not find public media appearances for this person.
Education
1-2003 - 8-2004
Ph.D.
University of Pretoria
1-1994 - 12-1996
M.Eng.
University of Pretoria
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

C

Calculativeness (C)

Calculativeness (C) reflects the degree to which a person is likely to be cautious, systematic and analytical. Those scoring high tend to emphasise quality and accuracy.

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