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