The Director for Vodafone Business Solutions, Lucy Quist is heading for Airtel Ghana as the new Chief Executive Officer. She is due to take over from Philip Sowah who has been with Airtel right from its birth in Ghana as Zain in December 2008.

Her appointment takes effect from May 01, but Mr. Sowah is expected to be around and assist with the transition before handing over completely in the same month.  

Madam Quist would become the first Ghanaians female CEO in the telecoms industry but the second female CEO after TIGO’s recent appointment of a Swedish, Roshi Motman.

Lucy Quist joined Vodafone Ghana in 2011 as Head of Strategy and Planning before her role was expanded to include Managing Director of Vodafone Wholesale where she led the company’s Fibre network connection from Bolgatanga to Onatel in Burkina Faso and Togotel in Togo through Cinkasse - the first of its kind in West Africa.

She moved to head Vodafone Business Solutions in January 2012 and is credited with increasing its visibility by extending the focus from corporate to SMEs which saw the enterprise’s business unit’s revenue grow by over 20% year on year.

Before joining Vodafone, Lucy held various positions at Tigo, including head of the Northern sector and later, Chief Marketing Officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo where she led the company to number one position in mobile data. Her efforts saw the country grow in Facebook usage rankings in Africa. She is therefore expected to bring her expertise in driving data (which is the new paradigm for Telcos) to bear at Airtel to help in the company’s growth.

She also has vast experience in product design and manufacturing in the automotive industry. At Ford Motor Company in Europe, she was one of the youngest female engineers and led several major projects. She subsequently worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland in London where she successfully implemented operational transformation initiatives and was part of the post-acquisition ABN AMRO integration team.

Lucy is a Chartered Electrical and Electronic Engineer and holds a first class degree and an MBA from INSEAD. She is passionate about developing leaders to achieve their full potential.

Together with her husband they are raising two sons and a niece. The family loves to travel and experience different cultures.