Ethiopian Airlines long-serving CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, has resigned from his post. It was a position he held for the last 11 years. It also means the end of his 37 year stay at the most profitable Airlines in Africa.
Undeniably, the tenure of Tewolde has been one a kind. His active years at Ethiopian saw the procurement of over 95 aircrafts and skyrocketing of the Airlines annual revenues from less than one billion dollars to four billion dollars. No CEO has been successful as Tewolde in Ethiopia and if not, in Africa. Even the coronavirus pandemic did not stop him from registering a positive profit, while other African Airlines were struggling to breakeven in normal period, let alone at a time when business hit bottom.
The last seven months however has been pleasant for him, unfortunately, due to medical reasons. "I have tried to work virtually for the last seven months as I was sick but now I am not in a position to continue my work due to medical reasons," said Tewolde, in an email he wrote to employees of the Airlines.
Essays Woldemariam is likely to be the successor of Tewolde. Already holding the post of Acting CEO, Esayas joined Ethiopian in July 1991 as Transit Agent in Marketing Division. He has been serving in various managerial positions including Manager Space Control & Yield Country Manager Greece, Nigeria and Germany.
In November 2010, Esayas was also appointed as Vice President of Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics to head all the cargo operation. In January 2012, he was appointed as SVP Global Sales.
He holds BSc. Degree in Mathematics from Addis Ababa University. He also earned Degree of Master of Business Administration from UK Open University.
Sources told Birrmetrics Tewolde has been mentoring Esayas to make him ready take the position from him. The fact that he was given the acting role for the last seven months also make him the preferred choice of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) to lead the biggest Pan-African Airlines in the years to come.
