Kenya Airways Appoints Sebastian Mikosz as the New CEO

Kenya Airways has appointed Mr. Sebastian Mikosz as the new Chief Executive Officer taking over from Mbuvi Ngunze who has been at the airline’s helm for two years and five years in total.

The journey to replace Mbuvi Ngunze begun in 2016 when the Board of Management at KQ engaged the services of an international search firm, Spencer Stuart to assist in identifying the man who would take up the mantle of the troubled but steady recovering national carrier.

Mbuvi was to exit during the first quarter but the Board had asked him to stay on until his successor was found. “In November last year, we announced that the Group Managing Director and CEO Mbuvi Ngunze would step down in the first quarter of 2017 after over five years with the airline, the last two at the helm. We asked Mbuvi to stay on until a successor was identified and also to drive the complex capital optimization program that we are undertaking,” said part of the statement from the Board.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Sebastian Mikosz to the role of Group Managing Director & CEO with effect from 1st June 2017. Sebastian Mikosz has over 20 years of professional experience in executive management both in the private and public sector. He has also held various non-executive roles as Supervisory Board member. He has been CEO of eSky.pl, the leading Central European Online Travel Agent, President and Chief Executive Officer of LOT Polish Airlines, one of the oldest airlines in the world – a position he held twice including an in-depth turnaround of the company leading to it first positive results in many years.  He has also held the position of Director of Deloitte Business Consulting Warsaw Office and Vice-President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) a governmental agency responsible for attracting foreign investors to Poland,” read the statement.

Sebastian started his career in 1997 with Arthur Andersen office in Paris and later became the Managing Director of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland (CCIFP). Sebastian is 44 and is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP Paris) in France with a Master’s degree in Economics and Finance. He is bilingual in the French and fluent speaker of English and Russian in addition to his native Polish. He is married to Magdalena Burnat-Mikosz and has three sons.