Full Name: Reginald Edmund Kofi Paapa Boahuma Hammah
Position: Regional manager, Golder West Africa
Main Activity of the Company: Professional engineering and environmental consulting services
Date and Place of Birth: August 4, 1967, Accra, Ghana
Education: MSc (Hons) (civil/structural engineering), Zaporozhye Industrial Institute, Ukraine, 1993; PhD (rock mechanics), University of Toronto, Canada, 1998
First Job: Postdoctoral fellow (1998), Rock Engineering Group, University of Toronto
Size of First Pay Packet: C$1 500
Number of People under Your Leadership: 20
Management Style: A combination of management by walking around and laissez-faire leadership. I am a proactive listener, which allows me to obtain unfiltered information, get wind of opportunities and risks long before they are formally communicated. It also helps me to get a good feel on morale. The laissez-faire style thrives on my natural tendency to mentor and stimulate. I am a proponent of staff managing their own areas of the business under some guidance and with support
Personal Best Achievement: Dedicating significant time to my family, particularly my children, despite all the pressures of work and church
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: Several people, including my parents, Brothers of the Holy Cross and Leonid Ruzhin (an elderly friend in Ukraine)
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Don Welch (Golder Mississauga) and John Curran
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: George Pake, founding director of Xerox PARC
Philosophy of Life: Help as much as you can – an investment guaranteed to bless your world
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Getting a scholarship to study in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (didn’t know at the time, though)
Biggest Ever Disappointment: Failing a Fante (my mother tongue) exam
Hope for the Future: That I actively help Ghana to become a fully developed economy
Favourite Reading: The Bible and books on uncertainty and probability
Favourite TV Programme: Anything sport related
Favourite Food/Drink: Fufu and groundnut soup/malt
Favourite Music: Ghanaian hip-life and gospel
Favourite Sport: Football
Hobbies: Reading and contact sports
Car: BMW 530i and Kia Spectra
Pets: Two dogs – a German Shepherd male (Spike) and a hybrid female (Princess)
Married: To Gillian Cowan since 1997
Children: Regine,10; Ethan, 9; Sydney, 4