IATA Focus Africa Conference

Mr. Mesfin Tasew was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines in March 2022. He joined Ethiopian in 1984 as Associate Engineer and progressed through the ladder and served in supervisorial and managerial positions in the Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering areas. In 1997 and 1999, he was appointed as Director Operations & Technical Systems Support and Chief Information Officer, respectively. In 2006, he was appointed as Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering. Mr. Mesfin also served as Chief Operating Officer of Ethiopian Airlines from 2010 – 2021, and Chief Executive Officer of ASKY Airlines from April 2021 to March 2022. Mr. Mesfin also serves as a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Board of Governors. He holds BSC and MSc Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Addis Ababa University. He also holds Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Open University in the UK.

Mr. Berthe was the CEO of Air Mali and Air Burkina. He has 33 years’ experience in airline industry and a total of 16 years as an airline CEO.

Mr. Berthe built his career in various Airlines and multicultural environments both in Europe and Africa at positions such as aircraft performance and dispatch engineering, maintenance and operations quality, ground operations and Chief Executive Officer.

Abdérahmane is graduated from:

-   French Civil Aviation school in Toulouse (1987 Master of Engineering).

-   French Aeronautical and Space school in Toulouse (1988 Master of Science)

-   Business Institute in Toulouse (1989 Master of Business administration)

He also obtained a Private Pilot License in 1985 for Single Engine Aircrafts.

Adefunke Adeyemi was elected and appointed the Secretary-General of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) resuming office on 1st September, 2022. AFCAC is the Specialized Agency of the African Union (AU) on all Civil Aviation matters and the Executing Agency of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Her role is to promote Safety, Security, Air Transport Liberalization, Environmental protection and overall sustainability of the African Air Transport sector across the continent.

With an international career spanning over 20 years, Adefunke is recognized as one of the 50 Most Inspirational
Nigerian Women. She was recently honoured as one of the 200 globally Most Influential People of African Descent
(MIPAD) in affiliation with the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent. She is also the 2021 Recipient
of the Ato Girma Wake Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to African Air Transport and Trade development.
She studied Law at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme
Court in 1998, holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the prestigious University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and
a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Nanyang Business School, Singapore in collaboration with Wharton
Business School, Philadelphia and Berkeley Hass Business Business School, California.

Ms Poppy Khoza has over 20 years’ experience in the civil aviation with 18 years in senior management. Ms Khoza was reappointed for a second five-year term as Director of Civil Aviation (CEO) at the SACAA, effective from 01 December 2018. She is the first woman to have occupied this position since the inception of the SACAA.

Some of her notable milestones at the helm of the SACAA include:

• Chaired the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Aviation Security Panel for two consecutive terms after serving for 2 years as Deputy Chairperson.
• Chaired the 2021 Facilitation Stream of the ICAO’s High-Level Conference on Covid.
• A recipient of many accolades including the Aviation Sector and Regional Leader Award, Best CEO, Top Empowered Business Leader, Public Service Leader of the year, South Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Business and Government in the Agencies and Regulatory Authorities.
• Recognised internationally by the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development and the African Civil Aviation Commission and the AFI group for her contribution to the development of civil aviation in Africa.
• A first recipient of the Flight Safety Foundation's Gloria Heath Trophy, which recognises a woman for notable achievements in civil aviation - June 2022.
• In September 2022, she was unanimously elected by the ICAO Member States to serve as the first woman President for the 41st ICAO Assembly in the 78 years of ICAO’s existence.

Under her stewardship, the SACAA scooped the Best Performing Institution in Transport Award on four (4) occasions. The SACAA achieved nine clean audits over ten financial years and received six awards from the Auditor-General of South Africa for clean audit outcomes. The entity recognised as the Top Performing Public Service and was also declared a Winner in the category of Investing in People. Furthermore, the SACAA was recognised as a Transformation Champion at the Oliver Top Empowerment Awards. She has championed the transformation of the SACAA, and it now boasts 50% capable women Executives and 51% female employees in the organisation. Ms Khoza was instrumental in the initiative to host the first-ever Global Aviation Gender Summit that SA Civil Aviation Authority Private Bag X73 Halfway House 1685 Tel: (011) 545 1000 Fax: (011) 545 1201 Website: www.caa.co.za 2 was hosted in August 2018 in South Africa, in collaboration with ICAO, UNESCO and UN Women. Under Ms Khoza’s leadership, the SACAA continues to make strides

Yvonne Manzi Makolo is an accomplished business leader serving as the CEO of RwandAir, Rwanda's national flag carrier, since 2018. With a rich professional background, she embarked on her journey with RwandAir in April 2017, initially joining as the Deputy CEO in Charge of Corporate Affairs. Before her tenure at RwandAir, Yvonne held prominent roles at MTN Rwanda, the largest telecommunication company in the country, where she notably served as the Chief Marketing Officer and briefly acted as the CEO.

Yvonne's expertise is further strengthened by her educational background, including a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Information Technology. With over 11 years of valuable commercial experience, she has proven her aptitude for strategic decision-making and driving organizational growth.

As a visionary leader in the aviation industry, Yvonne Manzi Makolo continues to guide RwandAir towards new heights, ensuring its prominence as a symbol of national pride and excellence in Rwanda.

In February 2021, Bradley Mims assumed his current position as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Deputy Administrator. Mims has served as a transportation professional in government and the private sector for over 40 years. As a government relations specialist with a multi-modal transportation background, Mims holds a special affinity for the aviation industry.

In addition to working for a number of firms and organizations related to transportation/aviation, Mims served as the head of government relations for the FAA during the Clinton Administration. He served as a transportation staffer for members of Congress in his early career (representing Congressman John Lewis—GA and Julian Dixon—CA). Mims has also served as a congressional liaison for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Between 2001-2005, Mims served as a transportation specialist at Booz Allen Hamilton. In 2005, Mims joined Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., serving as the Aviation Markets Vice President until 2010.

As an appointee of the governor of Maryland, Mims joined the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority Board of Directors in 2014 and has served as the co-chair of the Dulles Corridor and Finance Committees, as well as chair of the Nominations Committee. In addition, Mims served as the transportation subject matter expert with Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) from 2014-2016. Prior to his appointment at the FAA, Mims served as the President/CEO of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) from 2016-2021. He graduated from Allegheny College with a bachelor's degree in political science.

Mr. Lemma joined Ethiopian on September 06, 1999 and has served the Airline for 23 years in different Senior Management positions including Area Manager Burkina Faso, Area Manager Malaysia, Area Manager France, Director Global Call Center, and Managing Director Ethiopian International Services.

Currently, he is serving Ethiopian as Chief Commercial Officer since April 12, 2022. As Chief Commercial Officer, he heads and directs the development and coordination of Sales, Services and Operation of all International and Domestic Flights, Ethiopian Airlines Group activities and objectives, policies, procedures, plans and programs. Directs and Controls the company’s individual and corporate passenger sales, ticketing, reservations, and passenger services activities at all overseas locations of Ethiopian Airlines, all over the planet Establishes revenue targets and evaluate its implementation.

Oversees the administrative and sales support staff to ensure that the required assistance and support is in place, including customer-oriented schedules, products, pricing are established and efficient administrative, promotional and distribution support are provided for sales offices to achieve their revenue target.

He holds BSC Degree in Civil Engineering from Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Technology, MSC in Geotechnical Engineering from Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Technology and MSC in Integrated Marketing Communication from University of Mississippi, USA.

He is married and a father of two children.

Julius joined Kenya Airways in 2001 and is currently Chief Commercial & Customer Officer responsible for strategy development and execution of revenue and customer initiatives. He has extensive international commercial experience in delivering growth and improving performance in the aviation industry having worked in various roles across three continents. Prior to his current role, he was Director for Sales responsible for development and implementation of the global Commercial sales strategy. He was also Head of Pricing, Revenue Management and Distribution  June 2009 to May 2014.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Building Economics from the University of Nairobi and has attended various management and leadership courses, including the Executive Development Programme with Gordon Business School, South Africa.

Originally from the Seychelles, Elcia Grandcourt joined the World Tourism Organisation, a United Nations specialised Agency for Tourism in 2013 as Director, of the Regional Department for Africa. Elcia began her tourism career studying Hotel Management in Singapore at the Singapore Hotel Association and Education Centre (SHATEC). Thereafter, she occupied various positions in operations, reservations and sales mainly in hotels, including leading international brands such as Le Meridien and Hilton Worldwide Resorts. She was part of the rebranding team when Hilton Worldwide Resorts took over the management of the then Northolme hotel in Seychelles. She worked with the Seychelles national airline and destination management companies before joining the public sector to Seychelles Tourism Board as deputy CEO before being promoted to Chief Executive Officer, a position she occupied prior to joining UNWTO. Passionate about tourism, Elcia is honoured to be able to contribute towards sustainable tourism development in Africa.

Elcia also holds a Master in Dynamics of Cooperation, Conflicts and Negotiation in International Relations and Diplomacy

As a former airline and U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Chris is a Senior Flight Ops Representative with Delta Air Lines liaising with the aviation industry promoting flight safety and efficiency. His efforts are inspired by over 40 years of civilian and military operator experience. 

Before leaving the cockpit to collaborate on aviation industry initiatives, Chris had served as a Boeing 767 Lead Line Check Pilot at Delta Air Lines, Chairman of IATA’s Africa Regional Coordination Group, research cohort with NASA Langley involved with multiple projects focusing on data link, Air Traffic Management Systems, and emerging cockpit technologies. He also serves on the Board of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, Florida. 

Most recently Chris has been involved with the ICAO South Atlantic Safety Oversight Group and Implementation Management Group. He coordinates with global aviation organizations, state regulators, operators, air navigation service providers and industry monitoring agencies. Chris holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is still an active pilot in general aviation.