Titus Naikuni, a former Kenya Airways board member with a track record encompassing commercial and government interests, has been lined up to replace the airline's group managing director and chief executive Brian Presbury.
The move, which has surprised industry watchers, means Presbury will leave Kenya Airways after two years at the head of the carrier when his contract expires in April. During this time he had brought a new service ethos to the carrier, embarked on a major fleet restructuring and kept it profitable during the industry crisis. He joined Kenya Airways in 1998 as finance director, rising to the top job in May 2001.
Naikuni, 49, began his career in private commerce in 1979 as a trainee engineer with the soda ash producer Magadi Soda, one of Kenya's oldest companies. He rose to managing director by 1995, and was also the managing director of Magadi Railway Company in 1996, a private railway created to transport its soda ash.
Between August 1999 and March 2001, Naikuni was part of a government team of Kenyans, sponsored by the World Bank, tasked with turning the country's economy around. In this role he served as a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and was on the Kenya Airways board.
He returned to Magadi Soda in April 2001 as managing director, a position he held up to landing the job at Kenya Airways.
MARK PILLING LONDON
Source: Airline Business
