High caliber professionals with diverse skills and experience.
James Reynolds Baiden was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fidelity Bank from 1st January 2023 to succeed Edward Effah who completed his tenure on 31st December 2022.
Jim Baiden, as he is widely known, is a consummate Banking Professional who garnered more than 35 years-experience working in the Banking & Finance Industry right from his first job at National Investment Bank in the early ‘80s until his retirement in 2018 as the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana.
In October 1998 Jim Baiden teamed up with Edward Effah to co-found Fidelity Discount House and subsequently served as the General Manager & Executive Director from inception in 1998 to 2006.
In October 2006 Jim Baiden came together with Edward Effah and Thomas Svanikier, a key shareholder to develop the transitional framework that culminated in the transformation and founding of Fidelity Bank, a wholly owned Private Sector Bank.
Jim was subsequently appointed the first Deputy Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited.
In June 2016 after 10 years of impeccable service to the Bank as the Deputy Managing and working with a world class Management team that transformed Fidelity into a Top5 bank in Ghana, Jim was appointed the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank. Jim maintained the reputation of the Bank as an outstanding Ghanaian success story and led the Management team to continue growing the Balance Sheet and Profitability of the Bank during his tenure. During the Banking crisis in 2017, Jim then the Managing Director of the Bank, came in for special mention in many fora for his leadership role in building a strong bank that was not indicted by the happenings in the banking industry that led to the collapse of 9 banks.
In October 2018, Jim retired as an Executive Director and Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, having served Fidelity for a total of 20 years. After a 3-year cooling-off period, Jim was re-appointed to the Board of Fidelity Bank in November 2021.
At the 4th Ghana CEOs Summit in March 2019, Jim Baiden was inducted into the Ghana Banking Hall of Fame in recognition of his immense contribution to the development of Banking in Ghana.
During his active working days, Jim gained extensive international experience as an alumnus of Gerrard & National, a City of London based Discount House. He also attended the Darden School of Management, University of Virginia, USA, specialising in “Managing Critical Resources.”
Jim holds a Master’s Degree in Banking & Finance from the Finafrica Foundation, Milan, Italy and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with Statistics from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Jim is married to Joyce and they have 3 adult children. It is not a secret that Jim is passionate about the things of God and serves as the Chairman of the Action Chapel Scholarship Foundation. In many circles Jim is known as the “TrueBlue” because of his die-hard support of Chelsea Football Club.
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Julian Opuni is the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank and serves as an executive member of the Board. He joined the bank as the Head of Commercial Banking at the inception of the unit. After incubating and building the new business line, he led the growth and consolidation of the wider Commercial & SME Banking segments and ultimately the entire Retail Banking Directorate.
Julian has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector both locally and internationally. He has extensive experience in business development, credit analysis, and sales management and has also participated in various youth entrepreneurship & business mentoring projects.
Prior to joining Fidelity Bank, Julian had a successful career with Lloyds Bank in the United Kingdom where he worked for over 18 years. He joined Lloyds as a member of their Expedited Management Training Program, holding various roles in Operations and Retail Banking which included Branch Management. Additionally, he held several senior positions in both Business & Corporate Banking, finally leaving as a Senior Manager with responsibility for various business centers in the west of London.
His great leadership skills and business acumen have earned him recognition both locally and internationally. He was the recipient of the Ghana Business Awards’ Outstanding Leadership Award in 2020. He was also adjudged the Best Banking CEO of the Year in Ghana by International Business Magazine while Global Banking and Finance Magazine adjudged him as the Best Banking CEO in Ghana.
He is an Associate of the Institute of Financial Services (Aifs) and holds a B.Sc. in Banking & Financial Services from the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology. Julian is also an accredited specialist in Manufacturing, Legal and Property Lending and he has recently been conferreda fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana.
Mrs. Adwoa Annan is the co-founder of Geothermal Management Services Ltd, a green technology company. She is also a non-executive director of Waveline Growth Partners Limited, a finance company in Nigeria, and a consulting Advisor at Alfie Designs, a garment manufacturing company, and J&J Plastics Ltd
Prior to that, Mrs. Annan had a successful 30-year career in the financial services sector having worked in both the mainstream banking and microfinance sectors. She has extensive experience in banking operations, customer service, sales management, and strategic management.
She started her career with Barclays as a management trainee where she worked for 23 years, holding various senior management roles in operations, internal audit, branch management, and business development.
Following a passion to empower women, she joined Women’s World Banking in 2007 as the Chief Operations Officer overseeing all aspects of business strategy growth with specific concentration on the banking operations, credits, IT, Human Resources, and Administration units. In 2011, she became the CEO and voluntarily retired after 4 years of implementing a successful turnaround program.
She holds an International Baccalaureate diploma from United World College of the Atlantic (U.K), a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), and a professional graduate diploma in management (International Professional Managers Association). She is also a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Administration and Management Consultancy.
Yomi has a combined professional experience of 40 years in banking, technology, cyber security and project management. He is a Nigerian-American. He has been nominated by a significant shareholder of Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited, Messrs. Leapfrog III FS Africa No. 1 PTE Limited. Yomi is currently the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Holmen Consulting Limited in Nigeria engaged in the provision of IT consulting and project implementation services to clients in the banking, finance, power and energy sectors. Prior to this, he served as a Consultant and Chief Information Officer for Union Bank of Nigeria in charge of technology transformation from 2010 to 2015. He was also an Oracle Practice Lead from 1999 to 2003 with Whittman-Hart Inc in the USA where he participated in over 25 successful projects in Oracle applications and database, JD Edwards applications and process automation implementations. He was also the General Manager, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at the Marina International Bank in Nigeria from 1997 to 1998. Yomi has served in various senior executive roles within the banking and finance industry. He served as the Managing Director of Mutual Trust Savings and Loans, Nigeria from 1991 to 1997. Prior to this, he took up the role of Deputy General Manager and Corporate Bank Head at Société General Bank Nigeria where he nurtured the Bank’s Corporate Banking Division thus making it the most profitable division of the Bank. Between 1984 and 1989, he served as Head of Financial Institutions Department at Citibank NA (Nigeria). He also occupied the role of Head, Foreign Exchange at Habib Bank in Nigeria from 1982 to 1984 where he was a founding member. Abayomi remains the Chief Executive Officer of Akinade Associates Inc, USA, an IT Consulting Firm where he is an independent IT contractor and leads projects in the spheres of IT infrastructure, Enterprise Resource Planning, Database Management, Customer Relationship Management and Data Analytics among others. He has occupied this role for the past 18 years.
Skander was nominated to represent AfricInvest 4.5 as a non-executive director on the board of the bank.
Harold Richardson is a Ghanaian with over 30 years experience as a Chartered Accountant and currently serves as the Principal at Harry Richardson Consult, an Accounting firm he owns.
Harold is a member of professional bodies including the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), the Chartered Institute of Taxation Ghana (CITG), and the Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Advisors (GARIA). Harold has served as the General Manager (Finance & Admin.)of Vanef STC, Chief Financial Officer of Regimanuel Gray Ltd, and Deputy Director of Finance, Ghana Airways Ltd. He has also served in various capacities at theOld AchimotanAssociation (Achimota School), where he was Treasurer, and became the Vice President. He served as a Trustee of the Achimota School Endowment Trust, a member of the Board of Governors of Achimota School, anda member of the Board of Governors of Christ the King School, He was a director ofVanef STC. Harold currently sits on the board of Chapel Hill School Limited and North Ridge Lyceum Limited, both educational institutions.
Sulemana Abubakar (Abu) is the General Electric (GE) Chief Information Officer (CIO) for GE International Markets and the Chief Executive Officer for GE Ghana.
He is a growth-focused and execution-oriented ICT leader with over 29 years of executive and hands-on experience in digitizing multibillion-dollar Fortune 100 organizations. He has a solid track record in delivering ICT solutions in both matured and emerging markets. He has a proven ability in establishing and directing global program teams, and planning and deploying business systems in various industries and countries. Abu has also established Project Management Centers of Excellence, managed rescued efforts of multimillion-dollar programs, and delivered business solutions across the US, Canada, Western Europe, Brazil, Russia, China, Africa, and the Middle East. Sulemana Abubakar holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, an MBA from Imperial College London, and has several technology certificates from various institutions including MIT and Harvard.
Lisa Afua Serwah Mensah is a US citizen who is the President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) a network of community development financial institutions that manage over $27 billion of investments in housing, business, and facilities in low-income areas throughout America. She is a development finance expert with experienceusing public and private sector financial tools to improve economic security. She previously served as President Obama’s Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development and founded the Initiative on Financial Security at The Aspen Institute. She was educated at Harvard and Johns Hopkins and has worked extensively on small and micro-business development, housing, and financial and savings policy. Ms. Mensah began her career in commercial banking at Citibank before joining the Ford Foundation where she was responsible for the country’s largest philanthropic grant and loan portfolio of investments in rural America. She serves on the board of the Heritage and Cultural Society of Africa, U.S.A.
George-Thomas Svanikier (GT) has over 10 years of experience across the technology and finance industries and is currently a Strategy & Operations Lead at Google.
Previously, GT held positions at Goldman Sachs on their Engineering Management & Strategy team. There, he offered strategic guidance and business solutions to engineering leadership. Prior to that, GT worked in FX Cash settlements at Morgan Stanley, where he managed trade allocations, settlements, and post-settlement resolutions for foreign exchange products, catering to both corporate and institutional clients.
GT holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics with a minor in Political Science from Washington College (USA) and an MBA from Columbia Business School (USA).
His commitment extends beyond professional endeavors; he serves on the boards of SEVN group, The American Friends of Stowe, HACSA USA and The Washington Center, a D.C.-based organization that provides dynamic, experiential learning opportunities to empower and motivate young people to become engaged global citizens.
He brings a global perspective to his work, having lived and worked on three continents.
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