Girma Wake and Abadula Gemeda. Pictures: Ethio Lease/Addis Standard/ArchiveAddis Abeba– The Former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines and industry veteran Girma Wake has been appointed chairman of the board of the Ethiopian Airlines Group. Girma was with the Airlines for 37 years, seven of them as CEO, before he was replaced by Tewolde in 2011.
He has now been “appointed recently as a new Chairman of the Board of Management of Ethiopian Airlines Group by the Ethiopian Public Enterprises Holding & Administration Agency,” the Airlines said in the same statement announcing the “early retirement” of outgoing CEO Tewolde Gebremariam.
Girma Wake replaced former Speaker of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Abadula Gemeda, as Board Chairman. Abadula was chairing the Board after he replaced former ANDM senior Addis Legesse in December 2014.
In June 2019, Girma joined Ethio Lease, the the first foreign-owned licensed leasing company engaged in financial services in Ethiopia. He left RwandAir as Board Chairman to join Ethio Lease as one of the founders.
Ethiopian Airlines praised Girma Wake as “a highly experienced, successful and well-regarded business leader and a well-known figure in the aviation industry who previously led Ethiopian Airlines for 7 years as a CEO and laid the foundation for the fast and profitable growth of the airline. The combination of his experience, work-culture and drive makes him capable of chairing the board and take the airline to the next level.”
AS