Zenith Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Dr Adaora Umeoji as its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective June 1.
This was made known in a notification sent to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) by the bank’s Company Secretary, Mr Michael Otu.
Otu said the appointment was subject to the approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He stated that Umeoji takes over from Dr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the bank’s Group Managing Director, whose five-year term expires on May 31.
The company secretary noted that Umeoji would be the first female GMD/CEO since the inception of the bank.
According to him, Umeoji’s appointment is consistent with the bank’s executive transition tradition, succession plan, and strategy of grooming leaders from within.
Otu said prior to the appointment, Umeoji had been the Deputy Managing Director of the bank since October 28, 2016, with close to 30 years’ cognate banking experience of which 26 years had been with Zenith Bank.
Umeoji is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School where she attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP) and an alumnus of Columbia Business School with a Certificate in the Global Banking Programme.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Jos, a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a First-Class honors in Law from Baze University, Abuja.
She also holds a Masters of Law from the University of Salford, United Kingdom, a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calabar and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Apollos University, United States.
Umeoji holds a Certificate in Economics for Business from the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management, U.S., and has attended various management programmes in renowned Universities around the world.
This includes, the strategic thinking and management programme at Wharton Business School, U.S.
She also attended the executive programme in Strategic Management and has a certificate in Leading Global Business from Harvard Business School, U.S.
