Samsung Electronics South Africa has announced that Matthew Thackrah has been appointed as the company’s deputy managing director of South Africa. This after the departure of former MD of the company, Deon Liebenberg, to join Telkom as head of Business Mobile.

As part of his newly created dual role, Thackrah will continue to work as the head of consumer electronics and IT solutions for the South Korean tech giant.

According to Samsung SA, Thackrah has been with the company for more than ten years, and possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience across the firm’s broader product portfolio. The company added that his leadership has played an important role in Samsung’s local achievements.

Thackrah’s expertise lies within the fields of strategy implementation as well as forecast and retail management, which the company believes to be crucial areas that will aid the continued growth of its brand across South Africa.

“Having been with the Samsung brand for a number of years, I am pleased to accept this position and certainly look forward to the opportunity to not only add value to the brand, but to work with a team of exceptionally talented people,” Thackrah stated.

“I will continue to focus on developing the broader consumer electronics market locally and across our African shores - enabling a more intuitive and smarter life for the consumer.”

George Ferreira, VP and COO at Samsung Electronics Africa added: “Matthew has a solid understanding of the business and this, coupled with his industry experience, leadership capabilities and expertise makes him the perfect candidate for the role. We look forward to his continued contribution to Samsung SA in this role and the critical part he will play in achieving our business goals and objectives, taking Samsung to even greater heights.”

In related news, Samsung recently managed to eclipse the already impressive sales rate of the Galaxy SII, by selling ten million Galaxy S3 smartphones in just two months. This is more than twice as fast as the five months it took the Galaxy SII to achieve this global milestone.