Zenith Bank Appoints First Female Group CEO, Dame Adaora Umeoji

<h4>Zenith Bank Appoints First Female Group CEO<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Zenith Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Dame &lpar;Dr&period;&rpar; Adaora Umeoji&comma; OON&comma; as Group Managing Director&sol;Chief Executive with effect from June 1&comma; 2024&comma; subject to approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria &lpar;CBN&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She takes over from Dr&period; Ebenezer Onyeagwu&comma; whose five-year term expires on May 31&comma; 2024&comma; after a very successful tenure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dame &lpar;Dr&period;&rpar; Adaora Umeoji is the first female GMD&sol;CEO since the inception of the bank&comma; and her appointment is consistent with the bank’s executive transition tradition&comma; succession plan&comma; and strategy of grooming leaders from within&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prior to this appointment&comma; Dr&period; Umeoji has been the Deputy Managing Director of the bank since October 28&comma; 2016 and has close to thirty &lpar;30&rpar; years cognate banking experience of which twenty-six &lpar;26&rpar; years has been with Zenith Bank&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She is an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School where she attended the Advanced Management Program &lpar;AMP&rpar; and an alumnus of Columbia Business School with a Certificate in the Global Banking Program&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Jos&comma; a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a First-Class honors in Law from Baze University&comma; Abuja&period; <&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She holds a Master of Laws from the University of Salford&comma; United Kingdom&comma; a Master in Business Administration &lpar;MBA&rpar; from the University of Calabar&comma; and also has a doctorate in business administration from Apollos University&comma; USA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She holds a Certificate in Economics for Business from the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management&comma; USA&comma; and has attended various management programmes in renowned Universities around the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These include the strategic thinking and Management programme at Wharton Business School&comma; USA&period; She also attended the executive program in Strategic Management&comma; and has a Certificate in Leading Global Business all from Harvard Business School&comma; USA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She is a fellow of notable professional bodies including the Chartered Banker Institute&comma; UK&comma; Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria&comma; Nigerian Institute of Management&comma; Institute of Credit Administration&comma; Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria&comma; Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators&comma; and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria among others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2022&comma; the Federal Government of Nigeria honored Dr&period; Umeoji with Officer of the Order of the Niger&comma; as a recognition of her contributions to nation building&period; She is a Peace Advocate of the United Nations &lpar;UN-POLAC&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She has impacted many lives through her philanthropic and humanitarian activities through her NGOs&semi; Pink Breathe Cancer Foundation and the Adorable Foundation that educates&comma; caters for Cancer patients and indigent children education especially the Girl-Child&period; Her contribution to humanity was recognized by the Sun Newspaper which recently bestowed on her the Humanitarian Service Icon Award for 2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As a result of her passion for promoting professionalism in the banking industry and improving the well-being of the less privileged&comma; Dr&period; Adaora Umeoji&comma; OON founded the Catholic Bankers Association of Nigeria &lpar;CBAN&rpar;&comma; a platform she uses to promote ethical banking and service to humanity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She is a Lady of the Order of Knights of St&period; John International &lpar;KSJI&rpar;&comma; and was awarded a Papal Knight of the Order of St&period; Sylvester by His Holiness Pope Francis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;18441" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-18441" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-18441" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;11&sol;Zenith-Bank-1024x587-1-300x172&period;webp" alt&equals;"Zenith Bank Appoints First Female Group CEO&comma; Dame Adaora Umeoji " width&equals;"300" height&equals;"172" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-18441" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Zenith Bank Head office<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;