Reginald Hammah

7th June 2013 By: Martin Creamer - Creamer Media Editor

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