Kathmandu, December 17 A board meeting of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) appointed Deepak Raj Joshi as chief executive officer today, from among the three contenders recommended by CEO selection sub-committee. Joshi, an MBA graduate, has one-and-a-half decade long experience of working at NTB, and is currently serving as senior officer there. It is reported that Joshi will assume office after resigning from his current position and serve as executive head for the next four years. The position of CEO has remained vacant since November 2011, after then CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha had completed his tenure. The CEO selection process that was initiated back then had been halted after the candidates had been short-listed because a case was filed at Patan Appeal Court against the selection committee. The CEO selection process gathered momentum again after the Appellate Court issued its verdict in August this year paving way to appoint CEO from the earlier short-listed candidates. The CEO selection sub-committee led by NTB Board Member Ghanendra Shrestha comprised another Member Rajendra Sapkota, Joint Secretary of Tourism Ministry Ghanashyam Upadhyay and two experts related to the tourism sector — former secretary of government Dhruba Sharma and tourism entrepreneur Suman Pandey. The CEO selection sub-committee had interviewed nine candidates — Hari Sharma, Gyaneshwor Prasad Singh Mahato, Bishnu Bahadur GC, Raghu Bista, Gyanendra Ratna Tuladhar, Lok Bahadur Kshetri, Bhumi Lal Lama, Deepak Raj Joshi and Narayan Sundhar Pradhan — out of the 12 candidates who had been short-listed in 2011. The sub-committee had recommended the final three candidates to the NTB board today. The sub-committee had recommended the names of Mahato, Tuladhar and Joshi to the board for the final decision. The board chaired by tourism secretary has selected Joshi as the most eligible candidate. Joshi is the fourth CEO of NTB. After the establishment of the Nepal Tourism Board, Pradeep Raj Pandey, Tek Bahadur Dangi and Prachanda Man Shrestha have served as CEO of NTB. All the policy level works and international promotions of NTB — the statutory body instituted by the Parliament to function as a model agency with public-private partnership approach for the development, expansion and promotion of Nepali tourism — were affectedin the absence of CEO in the last four years.