Andrew McDonald
Wilderness Group HR Manager
Andrew is an HR professional with a passion for wildlife and conservation. Joining the Wilderness Family in October 2022, he looks forward to collaborating with all areas in the business, to ensure consistent delivery of the Wilderness People practices, and to uphold our Wilderness culture across all teams and regions.
Andrew is responsible for developing and executing the Wilderness HR and People strategy in support of the overall business plan, specifically in the areas of succession planning, talent management, change management, organisational management and performance.
Home for Andrew is Cape Town, where his love of nature and wildlife was instilled from an early age, through many visits to South Africa’s national parks. Andrew matriculated from Plumstead High School in 2005, before furthering his studies at the University of Cape Town and graduating with Bachelor’s and Honour’s degrees in Organisational Psychology.
During the first decade of his career, Andrew gained experience in the corporate realm, where he held regional, pan-African roles for Fortune 200 companies. Recently he worked as a consultant for Engen and Santam, focusing on strategic projects in Talent Acquisition and Development.
Andrew thrives on building up teams and individual capabilities within an organisisation, and finds the development of staff talent an incredibly rewarding experience. His consulting work has afforded him the opportunity to work with some inspiring start-ups, SMEs and NGOs.
His career has seen him travel to many sub-Saharan African countries, with expatriate secondments to Cameroon and more recently, Nigeria. He has gained tremendous exposure and learned about diverse cultures through his travels, allowing him greater insight and understanding into the impact of culture in the workplace.
Andrew and his wife enjoy escaping to nature when time allows, and believe there is no better food for the soul than being surrounded by wilderness to restore and reconnect.
Andrew is very excited to join Wilderness. “I look forward to drawing on my experience from across the continent and the HR value chain, to positively impact and grow Wilderness’ staff, communities and guests”, he notes.