Dr. Naim Bilal Yaseen has been appointed the substantive Group Chief Executive Officer of The Standard Group PLC, effective 1 November 2026. The board expressed confidence that Dr. Yaseen’s leadership will strengthen the group’s digital and commercial performance while safeguarding editorial independence across its platforms, including The Standard, KTN, Radio Maisha, and other radio and digital properties. 

Dr. Yaseen brings more than 30 years’ experience in media management, public-sector institutions, corporate governance and strategic communications. He previously served as Managing Director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) from March 2019 to around April 2022. Before that, he was Director of Public Affairs and Communication at the Judiciary from approximately 2012 to 2017, where he contributed to institutional communications and the Judiciary Transformation Framework. 

His earlier public-sector roles included serving as Deputy Director and Head of Public Communications in the Government of Kenya from 2009 to 2012. He also participated in a State University of New York (SUNY Kenya) project to introduce live broadcasting of National Assembly proceedings. 

In the private media sector, Dr. Yaseen held senior editorial and management roles at Nation Media Group, including News Manager at NTV and Managing Editor overseeing print and broadcast operations from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. More recently, he has practised as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and served as Managing Partner at NB Yaseen Advocates. 

He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Moi University, a Master of Arts in Communications Policy from City University London (now City St George’s), and an MBA and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of South Africa. He is also qualified as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. 

Dr. Yaseen began his career in the late 1980s as a reporter with the Kenya News Agency, then moved into private media, and later took on public-sector communications and leadership roles.