Yvonne Makolo

Yvonne Manzi Makolo is a Rwandan IT specialist who serves as the chief executive officer of RwandAir, the national airline of Rwanda. She was appointed to that position on 6 April 2018. Prior to that, she was the Deputy CEO at the airline, responsible for corporate affairs, from April 2017 until April 2018.

On 5 June 2023, Yvonne Makolo, the CEO of RwandAir, assumed office as the chair of the Board of Governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). She became the 81st chair of the IATA BoG and the first woman to take on this role, an impetus in the organ's global initiative of driving gender balance within the aviation industry. Makolo succeeds Mehmet Tevfik Nane, Pegasus Airlines Chairperson of the Board. In her remarks, she said that leading a medium-sized airline in Africa has instilled in her a unique perspective on issues that airlines hold in common.

Background and education She was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1993, she voluntarily migrated to Canada. Ten years later, in 2003 she returned to her native Rwanda. She and her older sister were raised by a single mother, Yvonne's father having died when she was very young. Her sister is the Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo. Makolo has specialized training in information technology and has worked as a software developer, both in Canada and Rwanda. One year later, in another managerial change at the national airline, she was appointed to the position of managing director and chief executive officer at Rwandair.

Makolo is the 81st chair of the IATA BoG and the first woman to take on this role. She has served on the BoG since November 2020. She succeeds Pegasus Airlines Chairperson of the Board Mehmet Tevfik Nane who will continue to serve on the BoG.

Other responsibilities Makolo is a mother of young children.