Oromia Media Network (OMN) appointed Jawar Mohammed as an Executive Director.

April 08, 2015 | OMN ANNOUNCEMENT

On March 7, 2015, with hundreds of Oromos in attendance, OMN celebrated its 1st year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, many chapters throughout the world had similar celebrations and the jubilation continues to this day.

Among the founders and dedicated individuals who made this celebration a success and help built OMN from its inception was Obbo Girma Tadesse, our Executive Director. Obbo Girma will be stepping down to allow for a transition of the Executive Director position from a part-time volunteer based to a fulltime Executive Director, stationed in Minneapolis, Minnesota to take on this position. Obbo Girma brought harmony and tenacity to the Executive team and he will be missed by his colleagues in the Executive Council and Board of Trustee. His calm and collected leadership brought about the steady growth OMN registered during his tenure. The Executive team and the entire OMN structure acknowledge Obbo Girma’s success and appreciate his contribution to OMN and the OMN family. Obbo Girma will stay engaged with OMN to continue contributing his experience and expertise whenever and wherever his support in needed. We would like to sincerely thank our outgoing Director for his contribution and dedication to OMN.

As mentioned earlier the Board of Trustees had made a strategic decision to hire a fulltime Executive Director who will be directing the organization from its head office, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. To that end the Board publicly announced the vacancy for the Executive Director position in December, and subsequently received applications from several highly qualified individuals including from Oromia. After the interview process, the Board of Trustees held an extra-ordinary meeting on April 5, 2015, during which qualifications of the finalists was discussed. As a result, the Board of Trustees have unanimously selected Obbo Jawar Mohamed to be appointed as the Executive Director of OMN. Obbo Jawar Mohamed has accepted the offer effective April 7, 2015.

We want to use this opportunity to thank all the applicants for their time; we were impressed by the number of highly qualified applicants. It gives us confidence to have a pool of such highly qualified individuals showing such a great interest to step in. We also want to use this opportunity to congratulate Obbo Jawar on his new role. We trust that he will take OMN to the next level. We look forward to working with our new Executive Director.

Sincerely;

Ahmed Gelchu, PhD, Chairman, OMN Board of Trustee

Kitaba Magarsa, Secretary, OMN Board of Trustee