South African private-sector aviation services company Fireblade Aviation announced on Tuesday the appointment of Leigh Kretzschmar as its new MD. She is a registered Chartered Accountant and the company’s first woman MD.

Raised and educated in South Africa, Kretzschmar has experience with both local and international businesses, including both Johannesburg Stock Exchange- and London Stock Exchange-listed multinational corporations. She has previously held leadership positions in education, professional services and fast-moving consumer goods sectors.

“I have spent most of my professional career in industries that are traditionally male-dominated and where my performance was expected at the highest level not because I was female but because I was exposed to strong leadership, and even poor leadership in some instances,” she observed. “This has assisted me in developing into the type of leader that I am and aim to be.”

Fireblade is based at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, where it has a Fixed Base Operation (a private terminal for business aviation). In addition to this, it provides aircraft maintenance, management, charter and hangarage services. “Providing personalised chartered air services to companies with geographically widespread assets or in need of their executives to conduct business across borders, is what we are about – providing the convenience, flexibility and efficiency that corporate customers expect, but cannot get from scheduled airline services and at a surprisingly affordable rate that compares with first or business class seats,” she explained.

Her aim at Fireblade is to build on its successful business fundamentals and expand its footprint into other African countries. That, in turn, is aimed at making the company the number one choice for executive air transport across the continent.

“Honesty, commitment and integrity underpin my fabric both personally and professionally,” she affirmed. “But above all, the work experience has to be enjoyable – and to create an environment where colleagues are recognised and motivated to enjoy what they are doing, which is of utmost importance, and this is why I value employee relations and endeavour to change this dynamic from the traditional models of leadership.”