The Board of Directors of Access Holdings Plc has appointed Ms Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of the company.

The company’s Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, stated this in a notification to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Tuesday in Lagos.

Mr Ekwochi said the decision followed the demise of the firm’s former Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Herbert Wigwe on Friday.

Mr Wigwe, Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings, his wife, son and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former Chairman of NGX Group died on Friday in a helicopter crash in Southern California, U.S.

The company’s secretary said that the appointment was subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said until Ms Agbede’s appointment, she was the company’s most senior founding Executive Director in charge of Business Support.

According to him, Ms Agbede has nearly three decades of professional experience cutting across banking and business consultancy services.

She commenced her professional career in 1992 at Guaranty Trust Bank and served in various capacities within the commercial banking and operations functions rising to the position of a manager in 2001.

The acting group CEO subsequently served as the chief executive officer of JKS Ltd., a business consulting outfit in 2003.

Ms Agbede joined Access Bank Plc in 2003 as an assistant general manager and was responsible for managing the bank’s portfolio of chemical trading companies.

She served as the bank’s head group human resources between 2010 and 2022 and was appointed the company’s founding executive director, business support in 2022.

Ms Agbede has a track record in successful people integration in business combination and culture transformation.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos in 1990 and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Cranfield University, UK in 2002.

The acting group CEO is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management, UK and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria.

Ms Agbede has attended several renowned leadership and professional development programmes including the High Performance Leadership Programme organised by IMD and the Strategic Talent Management Programme organised by the London Business School.

Commenting, Chairman, Access Holdings, Abubakar Jimoh, said that the appointment of Mr Agbede was in alignment with the firm’s robust succession planning practices.

Mr Jimoh said, “We are strongly convinced that Agbede, being the company’s most senior executive with exceptionally rich, professional and leadership experience and understanding of the Access culture, will provide the much-needed leadership to steer the company. This is towards the attainment of our strategic vision of building a globally connected community and ecosystem, inspired by Alice for the world.”

(NAN)