Mbuvi – Group Managing Director & CEO
Mbuvi Ngunze – Group Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Mbuvi holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree accounting option from the University of Nairobi. He is a Chartered Accountant (England and Wales) and is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Management Development Program (PMD75). He joined Price Waterhouse in Nairobi in 1990 and was seconded to Manchester in the United Kingdom where he was articled. In the UK, he started off as an Audit Assistant and left 5 years later as an Assistant Manager. In 1995, he rejoined Price Waterhouse in Kenya as Audit Manager, leading audits of various blue chip companies, and also involved in training and recruitment. In 1998, he joined Bamburi Cement (a Lafarge subsidiary) as Finance Manager and was promoted to the Finance Director’s position in February 1999. He held this position up to March 2002 when he was appointed Managing Director Hima Cement Uganda (Lafarge). In May 2006, he moved to the headquarters of Lafarge in Paris. He first took up the role of Mission Director in the Group Audit Department for six months, and then was appointed Group Vice President Internal Communications in November 2006. In March 2009, he was appointed General Manager for Lafarge’s operations in Tanzania (Mbeya Cement). He joined KQ in September 2011 as Chief Operating Officer. Mbuvi has extensive Board room experience having served on the Boards of Bamburi Cement (from 1999), Hima Cement, Mbeya Cement, and serving as Secretary to the East African Cement Producers Association. He is currently a board member of JamboJet Limited, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a member of Board of Governors of IATA and a member of the Executive Committee of African Airlines Association. (AFRAA).
Yves Guibert – Director, Ground Services Director
Yves Guibert – Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Guibert holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Mathematics, and a degree in Business and Administration from Paris Sorbone University. Between 1989 and 1995, Mr.Guibert worked for Air France as an Assistant Station Manager and would replace any Airport Manager during their absence due to his excellent adaptability and interpersonal skills to adapt to numerous airports set up and various cultures. Between 1998 and 2001, he worked as the Station Manager in Johannesburg, where he achieved many great things among them being to open South Africa for Virgin Atlantic and managed the operation. In 2001, he was promoted to an Airport Manager (West Africa) where he motivated a team and a territory unexposed to Virgin Atlantic. In 2005 to 2006, he was the Head of Grounds Services and was the part of senior management team. He was Director of Customer Services from 2006 until his appointment as Kenya Airways Ground Service Director.
Chris Diaz
Chris Diaz – Marketing & Corporate Communications Director
Chris Diaz has diverse experience in managing global brands. He is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Marketing, attained a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Accounting, a Diploma in Marketing and a Master of Science in International Marketing (UK). Chris has done executive leadership development certification in the US and UK for global brand leadership and holds a chartered and FCIM status. He has served as a trustee and director of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the world’s largest Marketing and professional sales body making a difference for global standards. Additionally he is a member of the Brand Kenya Board where he is charged with the responsibility of giving strategic input in activities to position Kenya positively to the rest of the world. He was awarded the Head of State Commendation (HSC) and was honored by the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) with the Warriors and Fellows Award 2009, for successful marketing and supporting growth of world class brands. Chris Diaz has significant experience in the FMCG sector and has a strong grasp of marketing to a global audience. Prior to joining Kenya Airways he served BIDCO Group as the Group Marketing Director, overseeing functions in Communications, Corporate Affairs and Business Development across different countries. He sits on the board of BIDCO as a non-Executive board member. He worked as a Director at CMC Motors Group where he won the Chairman’s trophy over 5 times for outstanding Regional profit, transport solutions and business team leadership. He is currently serving at the African Marketing Confederation and is presently a board member of the World Marketing Summit Group contributing to global leaders’ marketing strategy and communications best standards.
Kevin Kinyanjui – Information Systems Director
Kevin Kinyanjui – Information Systems Director
Mr. Kinyanjui joined Kenya Airways in February 2004. He has over 26 years experience in the Information Technology field including 6 years at the management consulting firm, Price Waterhouse, 6 years at Bamburi Cement Ltd, 4 years in the banking sector and more than 10 years in the airline industry. As an IT management consultant, he carried out numerous management consultancy assignments in the finance, hospitality, manufacturing and service industries in both private and public sector organisations. These organisations were spread out beyond Kenya and in other African countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Ethiopia. As Group IS Manager at Bamburi Cement for all group companies in Kenya and Uganda he was instrumental in strategy formulation, shifting the group to an end user computing environment and integrated ERP systems and putting in place a complete IT organization. Mr Kinyanjui was the first IT Director at Housing Finance where he oversaw similar planning and implementation activities for banking business systems. This included the evaluation and selection of a completely new banking system platform. In 2001, the Computer Society of Kenya awarded him the Chairman’s Achievement Award in recognition of his achievements in the IT field. He has attended many technical IT and management courses both locally and abroad, most recently an Executive Development Programme from Gordon Institute of Business Studies (GIBS) of University of Pretoria. During his tenure at Kenya Airways he has led the airline in implementation of very many systems, including but not l imited to: Oracle ERP, e-ticketing, Amadeus Altea suite of passenger service systems, web services for its customers, revenue management and network planning systems, cargo management system. This has led the airline to be awarded various CIO East Africa awards in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Mr Kinyanjui was awarded the CIO of the Year Award from CIO East Africa in 2014.
Alex Avedi – Corporate Quality, Safety and Security Director
Alex Avedi – Director Corporate Quality, Safety, Security & Environment.
Alex Avedi joined Kenya Airways in October 2004. Until this appointment, he was the Head of Corporate Quality, Safety, Security and Environment. He was charged with readying Kenya Airways for its initial IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) that was successfully completed in July 2005, making Kenya Airways the first airline in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve this certification. In 2008, Kenya Airways received the Company of the Year Award for strategic planning and emergency preparedness.
He subsequently led the airline to another first when Kenya Airways became the first operator in Africa to attain the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operators (ISAGO) certification in 2009. Under his leadership, Kenya Airways was awarded at the Company of the Year Awards (COYA) ceremony for “Best Emergency Practices” in 2009. Kenya Airways was also honoured with the “Africa Safety Award” in 2009 by IATA. In 2010, he led Kenya Airways to attain membership of the global SKYTEAM alliance after passing a rigorous safety audit. Kenya Airways is the only African member of this alliance of 19 world class airlines with a strong safety culture. In 2013, he led Kenya Airways to attain Stage 1 of the IATA Environmental Assessment (IEnvA) Program certification. Kenya Airways was one of only 6 carriers in the world to attain Stage 1 of IEnvA certification at the time. Most recently under his stewardship, Kenya Airways attained the prestigious British Safety Council International Safety Award in 2014. This award is recognition of excellence in Occupational Safety and Health Management at Kenya Airways.
Prior to joining the airline industry Alex worked in the banking industry for 7 years in Switzerland and Kenya in various capacities primarily in the area of Treasury Risk Management. He holds a B.Com (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi and several Safety certifications from IATA including a diploma in Aviation Safety. He also holds a post graduate diploma in Advanced Aviation Management from the University of Geneva and a graduate of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Aviation Safety Program. He holds a certificate in Aircraft Accident Investigation from the Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI) and is a gazetted Aircraft Accident Investigator by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Kenya.
In addition, Alex is a licensed commercial pilot with instrument rating. He has attended Leadership Development Courses at Cambridge University, London Business School, University of Pretoria (GIBS) and General Electric. He also holds specialized Aviation Security certificates from both the United Kingdom and Israel.
Captain Paul Mwangi – Flight Operations Director
Captain Paul Mwangi – Flight Operations Director
Captain Paul K. Mwangi is an alumnus of Alliance High School and a firm believer in the school’s motto “strong to serve”. He has served Kenya Airways in various capacities since 1984. As the Director of Flight Operations, he is responsible for the training and operations of crew (pilots and cabin crew) and for In-flight Management. He joined the airline in 1984 at the age of 25 initially as a cadet officer and then as a co-pilot. He underwent progressive training in the flying of various fleets and recently checked out as Captain of Boeing 777. During his extensive flying career, he has flown a number of aircraft including Fokker 27s and 50s, Boeing 737s, the Airbus, Boeing 767 and now Boeing 777. He not only serves Kenya Airways as a Captain but also plays the role of instructor and examiner for the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and is a part-time lecturer in Airline Operations for the Moi University MBA Program. Capt. Mwangi joined Kenya Airways management in 1998 as the Manager of Quality Systems and Standards. Since then he has served in various diverse roles including Fleet Manager for the Airbus A310-300, B767-300s, Head of Fleets Management,Head of Operations Control Centre and is currently the Director of Flight Operations. In addition to obtaining his Airport Transport License (ATPL) in Oxford UK, he also holds an MSC degree in Air Transport Management from the City University of London. He has complemented his training with IATA Diplomas in Airline Operations and Airline Strategic Management in Geneva and recently successfully completed the Programme for Management Development (PMD) at The University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Mr. Alban M. Mwendar – Group Human Resources Director
Mr. Alban M. Mwendar – Group Human Resources Director
Mr. Mwendar is an alumnus of the Alliance High School, and holds a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree, both attained at the University of Nairobi. He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Human Resources Management of Kenya. Mr. Mwendar has extensive experience within multinational businesses in the corporate sector having joined Unilever (K) Ltd in 1987 as a Management Trainee, and rising up the ranks within the HR function and in Logistics. He left Unilever in 1995 to take up the role of Head of Human Resources at British American Tobacco (K) Ltd, a role he held until the year 2000 when he was appointed Group HR Director at Kenya Commercial Bank. At KCB he spearheaded cultural reform programmes and internal branding initiatives that turned the bank from a parastatal organization to the present day commercial organization that prides itself with the largest branch network in East & Central Africa. In 2004, Mr. Mwendar was appointed Group HR Director of East African Breweries Ltd, a Diageo plc subsidiary, and again led internal rebranding initiatives that launched Diageo into the Eastern African markets. During the course of his career, Mr. Mwendar has played a consultancy and advisory role on HR matters to numerous individuals and organizations and has made several presentations to HR practitioners in the region. He has also attended numerous professional courses abroad including in institutions such as Harvard Law School. He has been a past Vice Chairman of the Kenya Institute of Bankers, member – Board of Governors of Alliance High School, and Assistant Chairman – Institute of HR Management of Kenya. He currently sits on the Council of the Agricultural Society of Kenya. He joined Kenya Airways in August 2011.
Martyn Haines
Martyn Haines – Technical Director Director
Martyn joined Kenya Airways in August 2015. An experienced leader with 37 years in various Maintenance and Engineering roles, he joined from Virgin Atlantic where he had served for 25 years, and most recently as General Manager Engineering Services and EASA Part M Post holder. Some of his time included a secondment between 2006 and 2007 in Lagos as Head of Technical Services whilst setting up Virgin Nigeria. Starting his career in aviation as an apprentice engineer in 1978 with British Caledonian and then British Airways, he moved into Technical Services & Planning, and Fleet Management roles, where he is experienced in safety management, delivery of cabin product innovations, new fleet introductions, and change programmes. Having participated and led industry steering committees in Maintenance Programme development, he is a Licensed Engineer by trade, and most recently studied at the Cranfield University School of Management in 2010.
Thomas Omondi- Achola
Thomas Omondi- Achola- Strategy & Performance Management Director
Thomas is Director Strategy and Performance Management at Kenya Airways Ltd, responsible for strategy development, execution and performance management. Prior to that he was Head of Human Resources Relationship Management at Kenya Airways Ltd, from April 2014 to October 2015. He was the Head of Operations Control at Kenya Airways Ltd, a position he held since January 2008 to March 2014, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer.
In this position he was responsible for operational multi-discipline functions (Operations control, Maintenance Control, Hub Control, Crew scheduling, Flight Dispatch, Revenue Management and Cargo Control) IOCC. He was General Manager for JamboJet, the low cost subsidiary airline of Kenya Airways, a position he held from May 2011 to April 2014, in addition to his responsibilities as Head of Operations Control. In January 2009 he was appointed as acting Head of Cargo Operations, for a period of 7 months in addition to his Head of Operations Control role. Prior to the above roles, he had been Head of Information Systems (IS) Development since Joining the Airline in February 2005.
Prior to joining Kenya Airways, he was working for a leading retail chain in Kenya, Uchumi Supermarkets Ltd as the Head of IT and Strategy Implementation, a position he held until January 2005. He had joined the retail Chain as Project Manager for a Major Retail and ERP software (Lawson) implementation in July 2001. Prior to Joining Uchumi Supermarkets he worked for Simba Technology Ltd as a software pre-sales consultant for Oracle software from August 1999 and left in July 2001 having been appointed as Regional Manager for ERP Software for Africa. He Joined Simba Technology Ltd from Software Technologies Ltd, a Software Company in Kenya that he had Joined in July 1995 after completing his Bachelors Degree where he was Finance and Administration Manager.
Thomas attended the University of Nairobi and graduated with a Bsc. Degree in 1995 in Mathematics and an MBA degree majoring in Accounting and Finance in the Year 2000. Thomas has Part I, II, and III (Information Management, Audit and Assurance Services) Qualifications attained from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA-UK).He also passed the examination for Certified Information Systems Auditors (CISA) in 2001. Over the years in Kenya Airways he has attended several programmes, Airline Planning course offered by Boeing Aircraft Manufacturer-Boeing, Executive Development Programme at Gordon Institute of Business Science-University of Pretoria, Lean Management by training Leadership Consulting of South Africa as well as Coaching and Mentoring training by Mentors International of South Africa. He also attended Executive Development Programme at General Electric’s Crotonville Center in New York and a 3 day ‘MBA’ course in low cost airlines offered by The MBA training company in London, Leadership development programmes organized by London Business School and another by Rolls-Royce on site (at KQ), in 2007 and 2008 respectively, in addition to numerous other courses both locally and internationally. .
Thomas has and continues to supervise Several Master of Science (Msc) students in Air Transport and Operations Management, Faculty of Aerospace engineering, Delft University of Technology, a Leading European Technology University on several transformational projects at Kenya Airways since 2010.He is also a PhD Researcher in Air Transport and Operations management at the same University of Technology in the Netherlands.
He is a part-time lecturer at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, teaching project Management. He is also Finalizing a Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) at IESE Business School in Barcelona Spain, done in different locations i.e. Barcelona, Newyork, Shanghai, Silicon Valley in California,Sao Paulo, on a Global leader Part-Scholarship awarded by the IESE Alumni.
Francis Musila – Ground Services Director
Francis was appointed as Ground Services Director in October 2015 after 9 years in the organization. He is an energetic and self-driven individual with over 20 years work experience in banking and aviation, and has a tremendous capacity for efficiency and goal achievement. In 2007, following twelve years service at an International Banking Group, he joined Kenya Airways where he has been responsible for acquiring and phasing in of new aircraft into the Kenya airways fleet.
During his tenure as the Head of Fleet Development, he presided over expansion programmes that resulted in the doubling of the aircraft fleet through acquisition, configuration and introduction of state of the art aircraft such as the Embraer E190, Boeing Sky Interior 737-800, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 777-300ER, into the airline. In this role Francis was also responsible for engine acquisition and engine maintenance programme selection for new aircraft types such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
In July 2014, Francis was appointed to the role of Head of Operations Control, where he managed a team of just under a hundred staff that coordinates the day-to-day, minute by minute Network wide operations of Kenya Airways, providing a centralized, real-time operational control and management of the airline’s overall flight operation. This includes flight scheduling, tail assignment, aircraft movement control, flight planning & flight dispatch, crew management and other aspects of flight coordination. In a nut shell, Francis’ role involves supervision of the incoming and outgoing flights to guarantee punctual, safe and reliable daily flight operations. Following primary and high school education in Kenya, Francis graduated with an honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering from University of Manchester (UK) in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in Engineering from Cranfield University (UK) in 1994.
Francis has proven his ability to adapt to new and unfamiliar circumstances through his work in a variety of International assignments (including Accra, London and Johannesburg) and through his successful career changes from his field of training to the finance arena and then back to his passion – Engineering & Management. Throughout his working career, he has been heavily involved in Operations, Projects and People management, maintaining a keen interest in efficiency, process improvement and coaching. He is married with three children and lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mr. Dick Murianki – Acting Group Finance Director
Until his appointment Mr Dick Murianki was the General Manager, Kenya Airways Cargo. Mr Murianki has been in the airline industry for over 12 years and served in various roles including as a Finance Manager, Commercial Business Performance Manager, and Head of Financial Control prior to his current role as General Manager for the cargo business in Kenya Airways.
Prior to joining Kenya Airways, he worked with Ernst and Young Public Accountants for over 8 years in accountancy and business consultancy roles. Mr Murianki holds an MBA from Moi University – Kenya, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi.