Adaora Umeoji is the first female Group Managing Director/Chief Executive at Zenith Bank.
According to the bank, her appointment will take effect on June 1, 2024, pending Central Bank of Nigeria clearance.
She succeeds Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, whose five-year term ends on May 31, 2024, following an exceptionally productive tenure. Zenith Bank said in a statement on Tuesday that “Dame (Dr) Adaora Umeoji is the first female GMD/CEO since the bank’s founding, and her appointment is consistent with the bank’s executive transition tradition, succession plan, and strategy of grooming leaders from within.”
Umeoji has been the bank’s Deputy Managing Director from October 28, 2016, prior to her most recent promotion. Her total banking experience is almost thirty years, of which twenty-six were worked at Zenith Bank.
“She is an alumnus of the prestigious 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 Program,” the bank statement further read.
“She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Jos, a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, and a First-Class Honours in Law from Baze University, Abuja. She holds a Master of Laws from the University of Salford, United Kingdom, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calabar, and also has a doctorate in business administration from Apollos University, USA.”