Just recently, beneficiaries of the students' loan offered by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) were enraged after the commission on November 18, threatened to publish the names and photos of over 80,000 defaulters in the newspapers after a 30-day notice.
According to HELB Communications Director Wavi Muigai, who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke on Thursday, November 28, the fate of the defaulters will be determined soon after the 30-day notice.
Unknown to most, however, is the man calling the shots within the board that has facilitated millions of students through their higher education.
Here is Charles Ringera, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Secretary of HELB.
Ringera has held the two positions for the past 6 years and 9 months since March 2013.
The CEO is a seasoned banker with over 20 years’ practical banking experience that cuts across all facets of central and commercial banking
Ringera who is an alumnus of Oxford Brookes University and Moi University, pursued an undergraduate in Accounting and an MBA, in Strategic Management, respectively.
Before his position at HELB, he worked as a regulator with the Central Bank of Kenya in various capacities, as a bank examiner in Kisumu Branch, Finance, Audit, and National Debt.
In 2004, he moved to Co-operative Bank initially as a Senior Credit Risk Analyst before being deployed to Enterprise-wide Risk Management as a senior manager. He lay the foundation for Risk management for the bank as per the Central Bank’s Risk Management Guidelines and Basel II Accord.
In 2006, he moved to KCB Group where he headed the Group Operational Risk and Compliance supporting – Kenya, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Ringera is a professional accountant holding a CPA (K) and a Fellow of Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, FCCA as well as an Advanced Diploma in Risk Management in Banking/Finance by KPMG Sweden.
