NMG makes top staff changes

CEO pays glowing tribute to retiring editorial director for exemplary service

The Nation Media Group has announced changes in its top management.

Mr Wangethi Mwangi, its long-serving editorial director, is retiring after 29 years of service. He is replaced by Mr Joseph Odindo, who has been the group managing editor.

Mr Mwangi, who joined the Nation as a sub-editor in 1980, has shaped NMG’s journalism in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as the group’s top editor.

The Group’s chief executive, Mr Linus Gitahi, paid glowing tribute to Mr Mwangi, saying he had steered the company through challenging periods.

“We owe him a great debt of gratitude for his inspirational and selfless leadership,” noted Mr Gitahi.

Career path

Mr Odindo, who has been Mr Mwangi’s deputy, has worked for the Nation at different times for a total of 24 years.

He also started off as a trainee sub-editor and rose through the ranks to his current position. In between he worked for The Standard, Kenya Times and the group which published the defunct Weekly Review.

He was the founding editor of The EastAfrican in 1994 and later served as managing editor of the Daily Nation.

Mr Odindo is a Kenyatta University graduate and studied journalism at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and management at Harvard. He is also a Press Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

On Wednesday, he praised Mr Mwangi for his immense contribution to the group’s rapid growth from a three-title newspaper publisher to a multimedia group with radio, television, broadcast and digital outlets across East Africa.

Mr Gitahi also announced the appointment of Mr Tom Mshindi as managing director of Nation Newspapers Division.

Mr Mshindi has been managing director of the group’s Uganda subsidiary, Monitor Publications.

He is a former chief executive officer of the Standard Group and started his career at the Nation, where he rose to be managing editor of the Daily Nation.

Mr Mshindi studied journalism at Nairobi University after attaining a BA degree from the same institution. He also studied management at Strathmore Business School.

Mr Mshindi has previously worked for the United Nations in New York and Nigeria.

He is replaced in Uganda by Dr Gitahi Githinji in an acting capacity. Dr Githinji, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery from Nairobi University, has been the Nation’s general manager in charge of marketing and circulation.

He has previously held senior management positions at Glaxo-Smithkline.

His newspaper marketing responsibility has been assigned to Ms Ann Gitao, who will combine it with her role as head of Marketing for the Nation Broadcasting Division.

Ms Gitao is a Bachelor of Commerce and Marketing graduate from the Catholic University and is currently pursuing MBA at Henley Management School.

Africa project

Mr Gitahi also announced that the executive editor in charge of the Nation’s Media for Africa project, Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo, takes up additional responsibilities for the Group’s digital editorial content.

Mr Onyango-Obbo, one of East Africa’s most distinguished journalists, is a founding editor of the Monitor newspaper.

A graduate of Makerere University, he holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo and is a Nieman Fellow from Harvard University.

Announcing the changes, Mr Gitahi expressed confidence that the team will steer the company to even greater heights.