Founding director exits Dis-Chem, signalling end of an era

One of the founding directors of Dis-Chem, Stanley Goetsch, will step down as an executive on 30 June. This coincides with one of the pharmacy group’s co-founders, Ivan Saltzman, also vacating his executive role.

Saltzman, who was CEO until June 2023, will remain on the board as a non-executive director and deputy chairman.

Once Goetsch and Saltzman depart, there will be no founding directors remaining in executive roles.

Lynette Saltzman, the other co-founder of the business alongside her husband in 1978, resigned from her executive role in July 2022 to “direct her focus on her operational role within the beauty category”.

Read: Dis-Chem founder gifts R6.8bn stake to sons

Saul, one of the Saltzmans’ three sons who had been in the business since 2005, resigned as an executive in October, effective the end of February 2026. He remains a non-independent non-executive director on the board.

Goetsch had been with the group for 42 years with an additional year’s experience in the industry elsewhere. Prior to being appointed category executive at Dis-Chem, he served as a pharmacist and store manager.

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Prior to its listing in November 2016, Goetsch – through Stansh (Pty) Ltd – owned 10.4% of the group. His interest was not disclosed for a number of years following the listing, but in 2020 the group shared that he held an interest of 50 million shares in the group indirectly. This equated to 5.8%.

Since then, Goetsch has steadily been reducing the stake. At the end of the 2025 financial year (ended 28 February), he held 29.9 million shares, equating to 3.5% of the group.

At that point, his holding was valued at around R1 billion. In FY2025, Goetsch sold three tranches of shares for a total of R170 million. He has sold additional shares during FY26 for a further R84 million.

* Part of a group of transactions for all executive directors where shares awarded in terms of the group’s forfeitable share plan vested and were disposed

Along with these sales by Goetsch, the Saltzmans have also been reducing their holding in the group over time. In June 2025, they gifted a 25% stake in the business, valued at R6.8 billion, to their two other sons, Dan and Mark.

The total of 217 million Dis-Chem shares were previously held by Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings, a vehicle of the founders.

Read: Saltzman sons sell R640m in Dis-Chem shares

At the time, it said Saltzman [Ivan] is “in the process of restructuring his interest in the Dis-Chem share portfolio which is held through Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings Proprietary Limited … All distributed shares will remain within the Saltzman family, thereby continuing current family ownership.”

This distribution was the bulk of their holding of 252 million shares in the group. Following the ‘gifting’, the founders owned just 4.06% of the company.

The sons have subsequently, through January and February 2026, sold a total of R640 million of shares in Dis-Chem. Both are believed to have emigrated.