New Managing Director of GACL Introduced to Staff

Mrs. Yvonne Nana Afriyie Opare, the newly appointed Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), has been introduced to staff at a durbar held at the premises of GACL.

In his introductory remarks, the Board Chairman, Mr. Paul Adom-Otchere commended staff for their unwavering support for the Board and Management of the Company. He was optimistic that the same level of support will be accorded the new Managing Director.

The new Managing Director, in her remarks, noted the solid foundation laid by her predecessors and expressed her willingness to enhance areas requiring improvement and set new achievable goals.

She pledged her commitment to leading the important and strategic objective of maintaining and enhancing relationships with stakeholders including Airlines, Customers, Suppliers and Government to achieve success in the management and operations of the company.

She touched on the power of collaboration noting that individual strengths, experiences and expertise tied together will propel the company to greatest heights.

She further highlighted on the need to capitalize on the strategic location of Ghana to maximize international passenger and cargo traffic as well as increase throughput to domestic airports.

Mrs. Opare urged staff to remain focused, diligent in their work and uphold the values and statutes of the company. She expressed excitement about the opportunities ahead and highlighted the need to work together hand in hand with mutual respect, passion and the spirit of excellence to achieve greater success.

Mrs. Yvonne Nana Afriyie Opare is an accomplished business executive with close to 20 years of quality experience in management positions and engagements. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with specialisation in Operations Management from American Intercontinental University in Illinois, USA. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from DeVry University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA after receiving her secondary education at Achimota School in Ghana. Yvonne’s corporate journey began in the United States, where she had professional work engagements with Fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Eli Lilly. She also earned a professional real estate license in the US State of Georgia, excelling in the ultra-competitive US real estate sector and winning the prestigious North American Association of Realtors Million Dollar Sales Club award for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007. Yvonne later returned to Ghana, motivated by her desire to leverage her wealth of expertise to contribute to national development.

Over the course of two decades, Mrs. Opare has honed skills in key domains of corporate leadership, business development and management, including strategy development and execution, resource harmonisation, human resource management, project management, operations management, financial management, business negotiation, brand building and strategic positioning and brand portfolio development. Her leadership competencies and skills also extend into the domains of strategic stakeholder management, corporate governance and diplomacy, gender inclusivity, social inclusion and sustainability.

She has built a track record of building and sustaining international business relationships with highprofile multinational organisations, including Schlumberger, Expro Gulf Limited, Lukoil, and Transocean Limited. Across these high-level engagements, Mrs. Opare has led organisations to deliver on strategic corporate partnership objectives. Yvonne has demonstrated business development prowess by navigating high-profile business negotiations and successfully facilitating multi-million-dollar business-to-business (B2B) transactions. She has also brokered a considerable number of public-private partnerships (PPP) deals to deliver high-impact projects in Ghana.

Mrs. Opare’s professional track record includes her tenures as CEO and General Manager of Vantage Real Estate Group and Blackwell Realty Limited, where she led and played leading roles in mainstreaming contemporary business management practices, building a culture of corporate excellence, developing human resource capacity, transforming business operations, scaling capacity, optimising functionality, diversifying product and service portfolios, and strategically positioning the organisations for market leadership. Her expertise in facilities management and project management ensured effective oversight across the developmental life cycle of various infrastructure projects.

She has experience collaborating with multiple stakeholders within complex business ecosystems. Having built and operationalised a world-class private enterprise that catered for specialised customer segments, Mrs. Opare is well-acquainted with the nuances of both entrepreneurship and corporate business. She is experienced in global procurements and has built an extensive global network of trading partnerships with internationally recognized brands such as Duravit, Bosch, Hansgrohe, Ideal Standard, Villeroy & Boch, among others. A wife and mother of three daughters, Mrs. Yvonne Opare possesses the perfect combination of personal qualities, professional expertise and leadership competencies required to deliver excellence in impact-driven organisations.