Macharia Irungu:

Dr. Macharia Irungu is the immediate former Managing Director (MD) of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC). He has over 30 years of experience at Senior Management level in Lubrication, Retail, Real estate, and Supply Trading in the petroleum sector in Kenya and Africa.

Dr. Macharia joined KPC in the wake of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, he spearheaded a multi-agency team including Public and private sectors in executing unrivaled initiatives geared towards containing spread of the pandemic in the Country. These initiatives entailed; coordination of production and free distribution of over 1,500,000 litres of hand sanitizers to vulnerable Kenyans across the country and; Donation of Kshs 55,000,000 ($ 550,000) to the National Youth Service (NYS) for production of 1,500,0000 protective face masks. These initiatives strengthened the Country's response to this global pandemic.

During his tenure as KPC MD the Company remitted dividends worth over $300 million to the exchequer. Part of this went into supporting rehabilitation of NairobiNanyuki Meter Gauge Railway and rehabilitation of Naivasha –Kisumu Meter Gauge Railways lines the objective being to spur socioeconomic development in the Mt. Kenya and Northern regions. Further, he was instrumental in mobilizing resources towards the transformation of Kisumu Port into a regional transport hub contributing to the creation of a blue economy

During his tenure at KPC, the Company recorded Kshs. 7.6 billion in 2020/21FY which translated to 31% growth of Pre-Tax Profit (PTP) from Kshs. 5.8 billion in 2019/20FY. With respect to the refined petroleum products transported through the pipeline, the Company recorded a growth of 6% to 8,111,539 m3 in FY 2020/2021 above the previous year's performance of 7,686,427 m3. The improved performance is largely attributed to enhanced corporate service delivery and streamlined systems and processes.

Dr. Macharia is a member of the America Chamber of Commerce, Kenya Hospital Association, British Business Association, Institute of Directors and the Kenya Institute of Management. He is also an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (England and Wales), Institute of Certified Secretaries (Kenya) and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.

Additionally, Dr. Macharia has held various positions of leadership. To highlight a few, he was the Group Managing Director at Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO), Director at Total Kenya Plc and Director of Libya Investment Petroleum, Mobil. He has also served in various Boards including; Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), British American Tobacco Kenya Ltd (BAT), Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) among others.

Some of his distinguished accomplishments include being part of the lead team that steered of the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya and operationalization of the Rift Valley Railways in Kenya as the Chair of the Project Committee. Designing and implementing construction of Oil and Gas strategic storage facilities in the Great Lakes Region which has enhanced supply of Oil and Gas in East and Central Africa among other projects. He has also been very instrumental in regulating the importation, refining, exportation, transportation, storage and sale of petroleum and petroleum products as a Director at the Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority

Due to his assiduousness, achievements, and relentless determination to achieve nothing but the best, he has garnered several awards and recognition globally His awards include the Mobil International Golden Nugget and Global Recognition award, given by Exxon Mobil. He was also recognized with Presidential awards of the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) and Uzalendo Award.

Dr Macharia holds Master of Business Management Degree from Newport University (USA) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi.