Mary Vilakazi was born in August 1977 and grew up in Alexandra, a township outside Johannesburg. Supported by a Rotary Fund scholarship, she matriculated at St Enda’s Secondary School in Braamfontein. She became a mother during her final year of high school and went on to enroll at the University of the Witwatersrand, completing a Bachelor of Commerce in 1999 and an Honours degree in 2000.
Vilakazi began her career at PwC, which had awarded her a bursary for her studies. She completed her articles there and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2002, developing a specialism in the insurance industry. She remained with PwC after qualifying and, in 2005 at the age of 27, was promoted to partner in the Cape Town office.
From 2008 to 2011, Vilakazi served as chief financial officer of the Mineral Services Group, a mining services consultancy. She has noted that the move offered a more entrepreneurial environment and more time with her eldest daughter as she entered high school. After leaving the group in 2011, Vilakazi consulted independently while remaining on the company’s board and consulting for it two days a week.
In May 2014, Vilakazi returned to Johannesburg to join MMI Holdings, a JSE-listed financial services group that had been her client at PwC and whose board she had joined in 2010. She was appointed head of balance sheet management with the understanding that she would be considered for the chief financial officer role. She became CFO in July 2015 and was closely involved in implementing the merger between Metropolitan Holdings and Momentum Group. In July 2017 she was appointed deputy chief executive officer. In February 2018, MMI announced that its CEO would be succeeded by an external candidate and appointed Jeanette Marais as a second deputy CEO to serve alongside Vilakazi.
Later in 2018, Vilakazi joined FirstRand as chief operating officer. On 4 October 2023, FirstRand announced that she would succeed Alan Pullinger as chief executive officer, and she assumed the role on 1 April 2024. Her appointment made her FirstRand’s first woman CEO, the group’s second black CEO after Sizwe Nxasana, and the first woman to lead a major South African bank since Maria Ramos’s departure from Absa.
Vilakazi’s industry recognition includes being named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016. In 2024 she received the Greg Boyd Award from the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals for leadership in South Africa’s financial services sector.