An avid team player and enthusiastic entrepreneur, Athol has extensive experience with international automotive brands, coupled with a thorough understanding of the wholesale and retail distribution channels.

He started his career as a graduate trainee at Volkswagen South Africa in the 1980’s and built an automotive skills foundation in the major functions of automotive wholesale, including Brand Marketing, Sales and Business Management.

A two-year stint with Mercedes Benz as Sales Planning Manager was followed by a period in advertising as Client Service Director at Ogilvy and Mather, with Volkswagen as the client.

After completing an MBA at Wits Business School in 1992, Athol joined Barlow Rand in a General Management position learning valuable divisional management skills associated with bottom line financial responsibility.

The remainder of Athol’s career was associated with the BMW brand in senior General Management positions in Marketing, Sales, Information Systems, culminating in owning a metropolitan BMW Dealership in Johannesburg which won multiple awards over the years, including Metropolitan Dealer of the Year.

During this period Athol was appointed to various leadership positions during his career including: President: Wits Business School MBA class of 1991, Head of BMW/MINI Brand Sales & Marketing, Managing Director:  BMW Clearwater and BMW Dealer Council Chairman for a period of 6 years.

In March 2020, Athol joined MSX International as Country Director: South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa, with responsibility for multiple OEM business outsourcing and consulting projects with all major international automotive brands.