Mary Wangari Wamae is the Group Executive Director overseeing the Group’s subsidiaries.
Mrs. Wamae has had an illustrious career at the Group spanning 14 years. She joined the then building society in 2004 as the Head of Legal Services before her promotion to Company Secretary and Head of Legal Services in 2005. In 2008, Mrs. Wamae rose to become Director of Corporate Strategy, Legal Services and Company Secretary and in 2012 became Group Company Secretary, Director of Corporate Strategy and Legal Services. In 2014, Mrs. Wamae was promoted to Group Director of Strategy, Legal Services and Group Company Secretary, a position she has held until her promotion.
While running her private legal practice before joining Equity Bank, Mrs. Wamae was the team leader in facilitating the first strategic investment in Equity Bank by AfriCap Microfinance Fund in 2002. She has led the Group in several strategic projects, including the conversion from Equity Building Society to a commercial bank in 2004; the listing on Nairobi Stock Exchange in 2006; private capital raising of US$185 million new equity by Helios EB Investors in 2007 to become anchor strategic shareholder ; setup of greenfield operations in Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda as well as the acquisition of existing banking operations in Uganda and more recently Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and subsequent listings on Uganda Securities Exchange (2009) and Rwanda Stock Exchange (2015). Mrs. Wamae is also credited with setting up the legal and secretarial division of the bank.
Mrs. Wamae’s new role will include overseeing the management of the Group’s banking subsidiaries in DRC Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.
She holds a master’s degree in Leading Innovation and Change from York St. John University, UK, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme (Strathmore – IESE Business School, Barcelona Spain). Mrs. Wamae is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with 14 years private legal practice experience.