Full Name: Rodney Trevor Jones

Position: President of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) for 2015 and 201

Main Activity of SAIMM: The SAIMM is a technical institute for mining and metallurgical engineers; conferences; publications

Date and Place of Birth: December 9, 1959, Germiston, South Africa

Education: BSc(Eng) (chemical engineering), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits); BA (logic and philosophy), University of South Africa; MSc(Eng) (metallurgical engineering), Wits; PhD (metallurgical engineering), Wits

First Job: Engineer-in-training, pyrometallurgy division, Mintek

Size of First Pay Packet: About R1 000 a mont

Value of Assets under Your Control: About R30-million

Number of People under Your Leadership: The SAIMM has more than 4 000 members and is served by 16 paid employees

Management Style: Respect people, have a clear vision to inspire people, but listen carefully

Personal Best Achievement: Developing process simulation software for pyrometallurgical processes before personal computers were widespread

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My family

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: The two people I worked for during about 30 years at Mintek: Tom Curr and Nic Barcza

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: No particular individual

Philosophy of Life: I aspire to follow the teachings of Christ and to be an unpretentious, caring person of integrity and loyalty who cares about justice and freedom

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Visiting professorship at universities in the US and Australia

Biggest Ever Disappointment: South Africa missing out on the minerals boom, and the projects that did not go ahead owing to the world economic crisis

Hope for the Future: A world in which poverty and unemployment are drastically reduced, thereby decreasing crime and violence

Favourite Reading: Thought-provoking books by authors such as Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond, Bill Bryson, and so on

Favourite TV Programme: I do not watch much television

Favourite Food/Drink: Grilled salmon with fresh vegetables/fruit juice

Favourite Music: Instrumental, jazz, light classics; popular music from the 1960s and 1970s

Favourite Sport: Running, especially trail running

Hobbies: Photography, trail running, hiking, travel, reading, computers, mathematical puzzles, philosophy, genealogy, history and playing guitar

Car: Honda Jazz

Pets: Two border collies

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Pretentiousness, inefficiency, rudeness

Married: To Debbie, for 32 years

Children: David, 27, married to Vutomi, with a son, Benjamin; Sarah, 24

Clubs: Photographic Society of South Africa, Internet Society, Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, Genealogical Society of South Africa, Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, Mensa, Cloud Appreciation Society