Wesley Kasanzu

Partnerships strategist with 15+ years of experience leading cross-industry ecosystems across airlines, retail, telecom, mobility, hotels and banking. Skilled in alliance negotiation, customer lifecycle strategy, and value exchange models (including points conversion), with proven success in developing diverse partnership frameworks. With some relatively good academic grounding (MBA Strategic Management, CIM Level 7 in progress)

Manager Loyalty Partnerships at Riyadh Air (2024-05 – Present)

Driving strategic loyalty partnerships for Riyadh Air, with a focus on partnership ecosystem development, operationalization, customer engagement, data stewardship, governance and risk management.

• Partnership Ecosystem Development — Defined partnership strategy aligned to enterprise growth, securing cross-industry collaborations and expanding member benefits.
• Partnership Operationalization — Currently leading the launch of new loyalty partnerships scheduled for Q4 2026, translating strategic designs into live, revenue-generating collaborations
• Customer Engagement Initiatives — Designed earn & burn strategies and engagement campaigns, driving measurable uplift in loyalty program sign-ups.
• Strategic Data Stewardship — Act as data protection steward for loyalty, collaborating with privacy and compliance teams to ensure secure, minimised, and compliant data sharing across teams and partners.
• Governance & Risk Management — Support Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) and Transfer Impact Assessments (TIA), embedding privacy-by-design into loyalty operations.
• Contractual Frameworks — Formulate loyalty contract templates in close collaboration with legal, ensuring consistency, compliance, and readiness for partner onboarding.
• Team Enablement — Provide guidance and support to team members, strengthening operational capability and ensuring delivery against strategic objectives
• Industry Representation — Represented Riyadh Air in seminars and partnership forums, contributing insights that influenced loyalty strategy and strengthened the airline's industry positioning.

Lead Airline Partnerships Officer at Qatar Airways (2021-01 – 2024-04)

Directed global partnership leadership and strategic portfolio development for airline frequent flyer program partnerships.

• Global Partnership Leadership — Directed a portfolio of 20+ airline frequent flyer program (FFP) partnerships, including OneWorld carriers, ensuring alignment with Qatar Airways' alliance strategy.
• Strategic Portfolio Development — Formulated business plans to secure new airline partners and enhance performance of an existing portfolio of 16+ alliances, driving network expansion and customer engagement.
• Contract Governance — Negotiated and structured partnership agreements to deliver balanced value across Qatar Airways, partners, and customers, embedding fairness and sustainability into alliance contracts.
• Customer Value Optimization — Expanded and optimized earn & burn opportunities, strengthening global frequent flyer engagement and reinforcing Qatar Airways' competitive positioning.

Manager, Alliance and Partnerships at Kenya Airways (2019-08 – 2020-12)

Managed alliance strategy and partnership expansion for Kenya Airways.

• Competitive Strategy Development — collaborated to design and implement Kenya Airways' alliance strategy, defining levels of cooperation aligned with competitive positioning.
• Partnership Expansion — Identified, initiated, and steered viable partner agreements, expanding and strengthening the airline's global network reach.
• Partner Evaluation — Established and maintained profiles of potential codeshare partners; evaluated existing agreements to ensure strategic and financial value.
• Performance Monitoring — Developed reporting systems to track partnership performance and provide actionable insights to stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Engagement — Built strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, securing buy-in and support for codeshare projects.
• Industry Representation — Represented Kenya Airways in codeshare seminars and partnership forums, contributing insights that influenced alliance strategy and strengthened the airline's industry positioning.

Interline and Tariffs Analyst at Kenya Airways (2017-06 – 2019-07)

Managed SPA/codeshare agreements, airline filings, and interline revenue optimization.

• SPA/CODESHARE management to ensure optimal maximization on interline revenue and seamless interline passenger connections
• Supporting the pricing team with Fares, Fuel surcharge and Business rules Filing and review related issues
• In charge of specialized Airline filings through ATPCO I.E branded fares, Consolidator fares, Conference fares and CAT16/31/33/10
• Offering Fare and ticketing support to the sales force across Kenya Airways Network
• Management of IRs and Work orders with Amadeus, Sabre and Travel port
• RBD Chart 2 management and Interline pricing
• Staff Travel System testing and Interline Staff Travel (ISTA) negotiation / Loading on MYID

System Support Analyst at Kenya Airways (2016-08 – 2017-06)

Provided system support for reservations, ticketing, and interline operations.

• Raise, resolve and close Incidents/Work orders in collaboration with Amadeus and end users
• Handling Airfares and ticketing related issues
• Supporting Interline and code share projects
• Conducting Reservations systems awareness on better usage of GDS and airline reservation systems

Lead Sales, Reservation and Ticketing Training Officer at Kenya Airways (2013-09 – 2016-07)

Led training initiatives for sales and reservations staff, and IATA Travel and Tourism students.

• Implement and Evaluate Trainings

Sales and Ticketing Contact Center Agent at Kenya Airways (2011-07 – 2013-08)

• Handled all Calls from Kenya Airways Francophone Markets
• Reservations and Ticketing Champion
• Lead coach for new KQ Products

Customer Service Agent at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (2011-02 – 2011-06)

Handled passenger services including check-in, arrivals, transfers, and baggage services.

• Passenger Profiling, Travel document examination and check in – KQ and Customer Airlines
• International Arrivals and Transfers
• Baggage and hotels services

Sales and Operations Assistant at Kibo Slopes Safaris (2009-10 – 2011-01)

Supported sales and operations for safari tour packages.

• Translation of Tour Packages from French to English
• Tour Leader on French guided Safaris
• Tour Costing, Hotel and flights bookings

Training Instructor at Global Institute of Tourism and Management Studies (2008-01 – 2009-09)

Conducted training in French language and Travel and Tourism.

• Conducting Training (French Language and Travel and Tourism)
• Planning and Resources allocation of Lecturers and students
• Participate in Research and development activities

Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing in Marketing – Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) (2025-07 – 2026-12)

Master's Degree in Business administration – Strategic Management – Kenyatta University (2017-01 – 2021-12)

Bachelor's Degree in Tourism Management – Moi University (2012-01 – 2015-09)

Diploma in Travel and Tourism - Consultant Level (IATA/UFTAA) – IATA Training and Development Institute, Canada (2008-10 – 2009-03)

Single subject Diploma in Human Resource Management – Institute of Commercial Management UK (2008-04 – 2009-08)

Diploma in Travel and Tourism - Foundation level – Global Institute of Tourism and Management Studies (2008-04 – 2008-09)

Diploma in French Language - DELF and DFA Exams – Alliance Française De Nairobi (2005-01 – 2007-12)

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) – Machakos High School (2001-01 – 2004-11)