Liz Aluvanze (born circa 1990), is a Kenyan

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, businesswoman, aviation consultant and corporate executive, who serves as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the ''Kenya Association of Air Operators'' (KAAO) since September 2022. The association brings together operators of helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, hot air balloons, remotely-piloted drones, approved aviation maintenance organizations and approved aviation training institutions in Kenya.

Background and education

She was born in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, Kenya's capital city. She is the first born in a family of four siblings (three sisters and one brother). The family first lived in

Buruburu Buruburu is a housing estate within Nairobi City County in Kenya. Buruburu is a vast development inhabited by lower middle-class people. The estate was designed in 1974 and comprises six phases, with the fifth completed in the mid-1980s. The estat ...

; they later relocated to

Kilimani Kilimani is a mixed-use commercial and residential neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi. Location Kilimani is located approximately west of Nairobi's central business district, within Westlands Sub-county. It is north of Woodley; east of K ...

. For her primary schooling, she attended ''Loreto Primary School'' before transferring to ''Makini School''. She attended

Precious Blood Secondary School (Riruta) Precious Blood Secondary School, Riruta is located in Kawangware, Dagoretti constituency in Nairobi county Nairobi City County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya. With a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, it is the third smallest yet ...

for her O-Level education. She completed her A-Level education at

Brookhouse School Brookhouse School (also known as Brookhouse International School) is an independent British curriculum co-educational day and boarding school that offers early years, preparatory and secondary schooling. The first and main campus is located in Lan ...

. Aluvanze excelled at all levels of her pre-university education. In 2010, she was admitted to the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

in the United Kingdom. She graduated three years later with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

degree in

Aeronautical Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: Aeronautics, aeronautical engineering and Astronautics, astronautical engineering. A ...

. She transferred to

Cranfield University , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

, also in the United Kingdom, where she graduated with a Masters in Air Transport Management degree. During the 2019/2020 academic year, she studied and obtained a Certificate in Project Management from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

Career

As of October 2022, Aluvaze's professional career has spanned over eight years. She started out in 2014, as an operations intern at

Fastjet Fastjet Limited is a UK based holding company of fastjet Zimbabwe, an airline operating in Africa. The airline was initially created following the acquisition of Fly540, an airline operating in East Africa; flights in fastjet's own name commen ...

, at their headquarters at that time, at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

in the United Kingdom. She then relocated to Nairobi, Kenya, working as the commercial operations manager for ''Aberdair Aviation Group''. She then worked for

Kenya Airways Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its hub at Jo ...

and later for the

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is a state corporation of Kenya that is responsible for regulating the aviation, aviation industry in Kenya and for providing air navigation, air navigation services in the Kenya flight region. The KCAA offers ...

. Her expertise spans "air transport, commercial services, fleet development, air law, and engineering services, technical and flight operations". At KAAO, she replaced

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

(Retired) Eutychus K. Waithaka, who had served as the association's CEO for the previous 25 years.

Other considerations

After she left KCAA but before she was appointed CEO at KAAO, she ran her own aviation consultancy called ''Skylar Consult Limited''. She is also a fitness and health enthusiast who attends the gymnasium three times a week if busy, but goes daily if her schedule allows.

References

External links

Personal Profile at LinkedIn.com

Official website of KAAO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aluvaze, Liz Living people 1990s births People from Nairobi Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of Cranfield University University of California alumni Kenyan women in business Kenyan business executives Kenyan chief executives Kenyan women chief executives 21st-century Kenyan women engineers 21st-century Kenyan engineers

Background and education

Career

Other considerations

See also

References

External links