The Board

As Chief Operating Officer of a bank with the highest customer base in East and Central Africa (over 9.1 million), he oversees the day to day execution of strategic initiatives and operations of the Bank. His tenure at the KWS saw him transform the public sector entity. In a bid to ensure World Class Parks, Dr Kipng’etich greatly improved the management of Kenyan parks, while giving conservation a strong scientific approach. Prior to KWS, he was the Managing Director of Investment Promotion Centre. He is a member of the Kenya Tourist Board, and boards of market leading local companies. He was Director of the Student Welfare Authority, University of Nairobi, where he also lectured in the Department of Management Science. He is also the Patron of AIESEC – University of Nairobi. Dr Kipng’etich is the acclaimed winner of the Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award, COYA 2009.

He is the founder and Managing Director of Empire Microsystems, which he found in 2006, aged 22 years, after graduating from JKUAT. He has built a successful ICT company from his last year project, a SACCO management system. James is an executive director of Prudential Group, the controlling shareholder of Empire, where he is responsible for the overall strategy of the investment group. He has lectured in a number of public and private universities as an IT industry expert, how to start and run a startup and to share his entrepreneurial skills.

Sharon holds several awards on Excellency in Human Capital Management. Sharon started her HR career at Mater Hospital as Deputy HR Manager and later transited to National Oil Corporation (NOCK) in the position of HR & Administration Manager. From there she moved on to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in the position of Director, Human Capital. Her last employment was with Safaricom as Director Resources from where she left to run her consultancy firm offering Human Resources solutions.

Sharon holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Sociology. She is an ongoing doctorate student. She is a Certified Public Secretary (CPS K) and the chief examiner for KASNEB, CPS examinations. She has authored several HR and motivational books.

He first worked as Media Officer for the National Union of SA Students where he pioneered the launch of the National Student newspaper. He then worked as a research assistant at the South African Institute of Race Relations for two years where he wrote numerous reports on population resettlement, detentions, security cases and press censorship. He was awarded an Oppenheimer Scholarship to study Development Economics at Oxford (1977-78). He was appointed Executive Editor of the Africa Contemporary Record in London, a position he held for four years. He then became editor of African Business magazine, based in London, and after two years was promoted to the position of Assistant Publisher for the IC Publications Group, responsible for New African, Middle East and African Business magazines.

She previously held Senior Management positions as CEO of EACC and Head of Finance, Finance Manager for State Corporations, Warehouse Manager and Chief Accountant/Company Secretary for Coca Cola bottling companies and Senior Auditor for professional Audit firms. She is a Board member of Mhasibu Sacco Society Ltd, a Trustee of the ICPSK Benevolent Fund and a former Council member with ICPSK.