Willie spent 23 years as an executive in FirstRand, establishing and growing various businesses. He was the CEO of FirstRand Wealth, which included RMB Private Bank, FNB Private Clients, FNB Trust Services, as well as Ashburton and FNB Trustees based in the Channel Islands. Until recently, he was the CEO of FNB Business, which provides Transactional, Lending and Investment products to businesses ranging from start up to medium and large corporates. He served on the FNB Exco from 2001 to 2014. Prior to FirstRand, he was a Partner in Management Consulting at PWC (previously Coopers & Lybrand). This role focused on business improvement projects including strategy formulation, operational excellence and change management across various industries.

Since 2019, he serves as a non-executive director for various businesses and partner with executives and business leaders as an advisor and coach.