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Board of Directors

CHAIRMAN

Jim Ovia

Jim Ovia is the founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, one of Africa’s largest banks with over $20 billion in assets as at June 2021.  Zenith Bank is a global brand listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.  In addition to major operations in Nigeria and other West African countries, the Bank has sizeable operations in London and Dubai. 

Jim Ovia is the founder and Chancellor of James Hope University Lekki, Lagos which was recently approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to offer postgraduate degrees in business courses.

Through his philanthropic venture, the Jim Ovia Foundation, he has shown the importance he accords to good education.  In support of Nigerian youth, the Jim Ovia Foundation offers scholarships to indigent students through the Mankind United to Support Total Education (MUSTE) initiative. Most of the beneficiaries of Jim Ovia Foundation scholarship are now accountants, business administrators, lawyers, engineers, doctors etc.

He is the author of “Africa Rise And Shine”, published by ForbesBooks. The book which encapsulates Zenith Bank’s meteoric rise, details the secrets of success in doing business in Africa.  

He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (OPM), University of Louisiana (MBA), and Southern University, Louisiana, (B.Sc. Business Administration). 

Jim Ovia is a member of World Economic Forum Community of Chairpersons, and a champion of the Forum’s EDISON Alliance.

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ebenezer Onyeagwu

Ebenezer Onyeagwu is a graduate of Accounting and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA).

He is an alumnus of the University of Oxford, England where he obtained a certificate in Macroeconomics and Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Strategy. He has MBA from Delta State University, Nigeria and Masters Degree in Financial Services Management from the Salford Business School, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom. He also undertook extensive executive level education in Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School of Columbia University, the Harvard Business School of Harvard University, in the United States.

Mr Onyeagwu is currently the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc. He is the Chairman of Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited and Zenith Nominees Limited. He is also on the Board of FMDQ Holdings Plc, Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF) Limited and Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF). Mr. Onyeagwu is a member of the International Monetary Conference (IMC), Wall Street Journal CEO Council, and member of the African Trade Gateway Advisory Council of the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

Mr. Onyeagwu is committed to sustainable banking and shares the belief that businesses should be a force for the creation of shared prosperity.

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Andrew Gamble

Andrew sits on the Governing Council of the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System as the representative for African Export-Import Bank. He is Chairman of the Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd Board Risk Committee. He sits on the Boards of various other companies in a non-executive capacity and acts as a legal and business consultant for banks and law firms. Andrew is a law graduate and qualified English solicitor. He retired from the international law firm of Hogan Lovells at the end of 2013. During his career of 37 years at that firm he held various positions including London Regional Managing Partner, Head of International Banking and Head of Africa.

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dokun Omidiora

Dokun Omidiora’s professional career extends over 30 years with major institutions in London such as PwC,  S.G. Warburg (now UBS) and Citibank N.A. His senior roles covered external and internal auditing, financial controlling, money markets dealing, risk treasury management and foreign exchange dealing management. 

Dokun’s career covered most financial asset classes, in vanilla and derivative products.  Although Dokun’s  career has been based mostly in the City of London, he has spent substantial periods working in other financial centres such as New York, Hong Kong and across several countries in the developing markets of Sub-Saharan Africa.  

Dokun is the founder and Managing Director of IntroAfrica Group which helps foster new trade links into Sub-Saharan Africa.  He is an alumnus of University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Andy Gregson

Andy is the Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee (ACC). Andy has had an extensive career as a Senior Executive and Consulting Partner working with global Financial Services institutions covering Banking, Capital Markets, e-Money and Payments, and Insurance.

He is currently a Board Advisor at Vitesse, a UK-based Fintech, advising them on major regulatory change and expansion into new geographical markets. Prior to this, he was their Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and continues to lead their ESG strategy, partnering with the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation.

Andy has a deep understanding of Finance, Risk, Regulation, Compliance, and Assurance, and has helped organisations to set and execute business strategy, establish effective governance and risk control frameworks, and shape and deliver significant change programs. He also brings experience having held several non-executive positions within the not-for-profit sector.

Andy is a Chartered Accountant and began his professional career with PwC.

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Alex Shapland

Alex was a former Partner at PwC and Senior Regulator with experience in UK and overseas with a wide range of Banks, Insurance companies and Financial Services regulatory bodies.

He has worked in the Financial Services Industry for over 40 years as a Banker, Regulator, Chief Operating Officer, Regulatory and Risk partner. During this time, his principal activities included providing advisory services to start up teams seeking authorisation from UK and overseas regulators as well as Corporate governance, Regulatory and Risk consultancy services. More recently, he has developed his career as an Independent Non-Executive Director of a number of banks and financial services institutions and Chair of Audit & Risk committees.

Alex possesses extensive Chair and Board Advisory experience having served on the Board of various type of entities such as Publicly quoted companies, Privately held companies, Private Equity Backed companies, Fast Growth companies, Foreign owned UK subsidiary and mutual operating models.

Alex is an Associate member of the Chartered Banker Institute, UK.

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Isla MacLeod

With more than 20 years’ experience working for global news publishers including the Financial Times and BBC Global News, Isla is a trilingual executive with a proven track record of delivering results through clear strategic vision and strong commercial acumen. She has extensive experience of change management and building and leading teams across Western and Central Europe and Central Asia and more recently, was responsible for expanding the commercial footprint across Sub-Saharan Africa.

With experience of advising business leaders and key decision makers in both public and private sector corporations, Isla has led in the crafting and executing of global media and communications strategies. She has worked across a broad range of sectors - from Government, DTI, Nation Branding, Financial services, Travel and Tourism, Luxury, Petrochemical and Mining.  She has advanced skills in strategy development to underpin investment, marketing and business development and has a robust understanding of digitisation of news services based on user consumption habits. Isla holds a BA(Hons) French and German from Royal Holloway, University of London and she speaks both languages.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Udu Ovbiagele

Udu holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations from the University of Reading, England, and an MBA in International Business from The Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, England. He also holds a Post Graduate Certification in The Mechanics of International Trade & Finance (CITF) from Middlesex University, London, England and is a certified Commercial Banking and Credit Analyst (CBCA), awarded by the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) of Vancouver, Canada. He is also an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. (ACIB). He is an alumnus of the London Business School where he has undertaken executive level leadership training.

Udu commenced his banking career in Zenith Bank Plc’s Domestic Operations Group which offered him a firm grounding of the various aspects of the Bank's operations, prior to him venturing into the wide spectrum of Corporate Banking at the Group’s Head Office. His vast banking experience spans over two decades and cuts across various sectors including manufacturing, trading, hospitality, non-bank financial institutions, commercial real estate & Infrastructure, Project finance, Investment Banking, Development Finance, Telecomms, Agency Banking, Financial Technology and International Trade and finance. He has served in various supervisory capacities over the years, and as such has been actively involved in business development, corporate strategy, facility structuring, loan syndication and income optimisation. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Udu was the Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd Executive Director overseeing the Trade Finance Group,  Correspondent Banking Group, the Dubai Branch, the Multinational Corporates Group, the Institutional Banking Group as well as the Digital Marketing Group.

Udu has been exposed to various training and management programmes, some of which include Treasury, Correspondent Banking, Bond and FX trading, Trade Services, Financial Control, Advanced Credit analysis, Risk Management, Internal Control, and Compliance. He has also played key roles in several development projects in the Group including, but not limited to, electronic business, Investment Banking and Credit Risk Management.

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