Chief Executive Officer - Mr Daniel Acheampong
Dan Acheampong is the Chief Executive Officer of VALCO and has held this position since January 2014. Dan is a Human Resource practitioner by profession and prior to assuming this top position at VALCO had had over 28 years of contemporary experience in the field of Human Resource Management and Leadership.
Dan has since becoming the CEO leveraged all his internal and external influences to bring about increased confidence, commitment and goodwill of major stakeholders towards VALCO’s operations and in particular the Company’s status as the anchor for the implementation of Ghana’s Integrated Aluminium industry. He leads the VALCO smelter.
Dan graduated with First Class Honours Degree in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, (UGBS) in 1984, majoring in Management. With over 28 years of contemporary experience in Human Resource Management and Leadership, prior to becoming the CEO, Dan holds a global perspective of issues, given his solid professional/executive post-graduate credentials obtained from the Business Schools of the University of Michigan, Harvard University and, the Centre for Creative Leadership, all in the United States of America. Productivity occupies a pride of place in his heart, thanks to his course of study at the Botswana National Institute of Productivity.
He joined VALCO in 1987 and worked in various capacities in human resources including Personnel Services, Safety, Employee and Community Relations. He became the Director of Human Resources and Administration of VALCO in May 2005 and in December 2010 was elevated to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Human Resources and Administration, Public and Legal Affairs.
Prior to joining VALCO, Dan, with his impressive background in Contract, Administrative and Company Law, had worked for over 3 years as Administrative/Investigations Officer with the Office of the Ombudsman, now Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Dan was elected President of the Institute of Human Resource Management Practitioners, Ghana (IHRMP) in November 2007 and served two, two-year terms of office, having been the Institute’s Vice-President earlier on.
Dan is a practicing Catholic and is happily married to Kate. They have two children, namely, Yasmine and Nhyira.
Deputy C.E.O, Operations - Mr George Essel Dodd
George Essel Dodd is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations at VALCO. George, a product of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology joined VALCO in August 1986 as Production Supervisor. George has since held a number of positions in the Company and rose through the ranks to become Area Manager for the Cell Lines (Production).
In his current position as the Deputy CEO (Operations), George leads the entire production teams in the three main operational areas of the VALCO Smelter comprising the Carbon Plant which produces carbon anodes (a major input to the reduction process), the Cell Lines (where the actual manufacturing of aluminium takes place), the Cast House (which receives molten metal from the Cell Lines for sale to local customers and for value addition and casting for export. George also has responsibility for the Technical Department which is responsible for quality control and process development and monitoring.
George, has undertaken a number of operational and technical projects in cathode development and pot construction. In the production areas George has undertaken a number of temporary work assignments with some of Kaiser’s plants in the United States of America where he also provided technical support for their operations. Notable amongst them was providing assistance to the Kaiser Mead Plant in Mead, Spokane and the Division Technical in the construction of cells in line with the Company’s Technology programme.
Prior to his current position, George functioned as the Deputy CEO in charge of Power and Integrated Business and played a pivotal and pioneering role in championing the preparatory works for the development of a captive Power Plant for VALCO’s operations. He also worked with senior government officials and a number of potential investors towards the initiation of Ghana’s Integrated Aluminium Industry project. Currently, as the Deputy CEO (Operations) he has acted on a number of occasions for the Chief Executive Officer in his absence. He is married to Emma and has four children; a boy and three girls.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE - Mr Robert Makila Sambian, CA, FCCA
Robert Makila Sambian is the Director of Finance, providing key support to drive business strategy while ensuring balanced resource allocation and efficient utilization of same towards achieving the Company’s financial goals and strategic objectives. He is a Chartered Accountant with experience spanning over 15 years of which 12 years have been spent serving in corporate finance roles in the aluminium industry. He joined VALCO under the Company’s Management Trainee Program during the period of his National Service in 2006 towards the end of which he received a scholarship from the Africagrowth Institute in South Africa to pursue a postgraduate study in Development Finance at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. While there he was assigned a Research Assistantship role where he worked on a number of projects on the investment climate in Africa and got involved in the quarterly publications of the South African Business Confidence Index (BCI) and became a co-author of a book on SMEs in Africa.
Prior to re-joining VALCO in January 2011, he had a brief stint as an Accountant at Grand Oak Limited, a subsidiary of Lexcel Group, Nigeria. At VALCO he soon gained a depth of knowledge in all facets of the finance function from cost accounting and financial reporting to financial planning and analysis and became a core member of the Team. His firm grasp of the business across functional areas and its place within the global context allows him to provide nuanced insights towards shaping strategy. In recent years he has been playing a lead role within the Company’s Strategic and Business Planning Team. He also Heads the Company’s Market Intelligence Unit and was chair of the Tender Review Committee as well as served as the Administrator of the Company’s in-house Pension Fund Schemes for many years.
Robert has attended a number of aluminium industry-relevant international conferences and has been keenly following and evaluating market basics and tendencies as well as associations between commodities and other macroeconomic indicators in the aluminium and allied raw materials industries, allowing the Company to optimize benefits from the highs and lows of the markets. He leverages this with financial analysis to help shape strategic discourse as well as manage price risks and costs as part of a Team for key contract negotiations and advocacy for key policy initiatives. He, for instance, helped build the socio-economic case that was instrumental in the Company’s engagement with the Government of Ghana over a near-industry-competitive power tariff for the Smelter which was granted in 2017. He also provided various inputs for the engagement of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy on the then (2018) Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) bill, resulting in an enhanced outcome. Robert’s recent contribution from the price risk management perspective includes a 6-month derivative contract initiative in 2022 which realized a net gain of Nine million US Dollars for the Company.
Robert holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting (First Class Honours) from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and a Master of Business Administration in Finance (Distinction) from Coventry University, United Kingdom. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), United Kingdom.
Director of Human Resources & Administration - Mr. Festus Badu Quaidoo
Festus Badu Quaidoo is the Director of Human Resource & Administration. His career as a Human Resource professional spans a period of about 25 years with extensive experience in managing human resource functions at the unit, sectional and organizational levels; having initially worked with the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) as Compensation/Benefits Specialist – a Senior Manager role, and subsequently re-engaged at the executive management level.
Prior to his re-engagement at VALCO, Festus was the General Manager, Human Resource & Administration at Global Speciality Oils & Fats (GSOF) Limited, Tema. He joined GSOF from Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Limited where he was the General Manager, Human Resource & Administration and exercised leadership and managerial responsibility for the HR functions.
Before his association with TOR, Festus was the Head of Human Resource at Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited; now Universal Merchant Bank. He was later appointed as the Head of Learning & Development with primary accountability for planning and managing training/development programmes and other job-related learning interventions in support of the Bank’s business objectives.
He holds an Executive MBA with speciality in Human Resource Management from the University of Ghana Business School, Legon and a B.A (Hons) Degree in Sociology also from the University of Ghana, Legon. Festus is a Member of the Board of Directors of Greenline Logistics Limited.
Director of Logistics - Dr. Loveland Dela Agbo
Dr. Loveland Dela Agbo is a Supply Chain Management professional with over twenty-five year’s industrial experience in material and related activities. He has been responsible for the cost-effective management of materials from their source to meet the operational needs of the various organizations he worked for and therefore has numerous cost-reduction achievements credited to his advantage.
Dela holds a Doctorate degree in Business Administration from the Swiss Management Centre University. His first degree was in Business Administration (Management Option) and his second degree in Executive Master of Business Administration (Marketing Option) all from the University of Ghana Business School, Legon.
In professional life, Dela holds a professional qualification in Procurement and Supply Management from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply-UK (CIPS) and is now a Fellow of the Institute- FCIPS. Dela is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, UK – CMILT; and a Member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, USA. Dela served as the Vice-Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, Ghana Branch from 2008 to 2010 and became the substantive Branch Chairman between 2010 and March 2014, during which CIPS, Ghana Branch successfully hosted the first ever CIPS Pan African Conference to be held outside of South Africa.
Dela is an adjunct lecturer in Supply Chain Management and related subjects - Logistics, Procurement and Materials Management etc., at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He has also performed consultancy services for a number of institutions such as GIMPA. He was very instrumental in the training of Public Procurement Practitioners for the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
AG. Director of Information & Communication Technology - Dr. Prince Nana Yaw Gyedu Nkrumah
Ing. Dr. Prince Nkrumah is the Acting Director of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Department of VALCO. Prince has over 25 years of experience designing, implementing, and supervising Computer and Electrical/Electronic Systems. He takes delight in custom solutions when a traditional method fails. He has developed several critical unique homegrown solutions that have saved companies thousands of dollars. Prince spearheaded the migration of the company’s Novel network platform to a modern Microsoft platform in the late 90s and kept the company from bringing in an expatriate to implement the project. He has continued to successfully migrate the network to different Microsoft platform versions with no significant downtime or data loss. Recently, he championed a homegrown solution to an old propriety system used in monitoring the Aluminum reduction process that is envisaged to prevent significant loss and unquantified repercussions should the original system fail.
Prince holds a Ph.D. in ICT from Walden University in the United States, EMBA from KNUST, and a BSc in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from KNUST. He was one of the first Microsoft System Engineers in Ghana, in addition, a certified CISCO CCNA and a United States Telecommunication Institute (USTTI) alumni in Telecommunication.
Before joining Valco, he worked at REISS company limited (formally known as ICL) as the Electronic Communication Engineer. Dr. Nkrumah is an adjunct lecturer in Computer Systems and Electronic Communications at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) and has trained several sailors and onshore students in shipboard computer systems and data communications.
His specialization includes Blockchain Security, Wireless/Data Communication, Network Design, Optimization and Administration, Database Systems, Messaging Systems, and Remote networking and Cyber Security.
Director of Technical - Mr. Francis Opoku-Boateng
Francis Opoku-Boateng is the Director in charge of Technical Services at Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO).
Francis holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Chemical Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi and an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (Project Management option) from the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.
He has almost 30 years’ extensive background and work experience in the Aluminium Industry. He joined VALCO in 1990 to undertake his National Service after which he was employed in the Cell Lines-Technical Department as a Process Engineer. He was promoted as a Senior Process Engineer (Manager) in 2001 and moved to Carbon-Technical Department to be in charge of the section. During the current restart in 2010, he was transferred to Carbon Operations Department and promoted as Area Manager in 2011 and became the Director, responsible for the Department effective 2014. Then in December 2018, he moved again to Technical Department as the Director in charge of Technical Services.
Francis is goal-oriented individual with strong leadership capabilities. He has several years’ experience in training, development and team building as well as quality/process control systems. He is a resourceful Technical Project Professional and for several years has been very instrumental in numerous technical projects implemented at VALCO. He leverages on his solid analytical skills, Production and Technical background to manage the Technical Department to provide accurate and timely data and information to the Plant for the effective operation of Cell Lines and all other production areas in a way that is consistent with the values, principles and targets in the VALCO Business Plan.
Francis is currently a member of Ghana Institution of Engineers (Gh.IE) and Board of Trustees of VALCO 2nd Tier Occupational Pension Scheme and 3rd Tier Provident Fund Scheme.
Ag. Director of Carbon Operations Department - Dr.Richard Sarkodee-Adoo
Ing. Richard Sarkodee-Adoo, PhD is the Ag. Director in charge of Carbon Operations Department of VALCO; a production unit responsible for the production of pre-bake carbon anodes for the electrolytic smelting of aluminium.
Richard is a professional engineer with over 15 years’ experience in industrial operations. He was retained with VALCO as an Assistant Manager right after he completed his mandatory National Service with the company in 2006 and has served in several capacities. He is also a project management consultant with experience in both waterfall and agile development frameworks. He has rich experience in managing several complex industrial operations of varying scales and scope and has conducted several projects over the period aimed at improving production processes and the quality of products, all with the sole aim of ensuring customer satisfaction.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Materials Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, an Executive Masters degree in Business Administration (EMBA) from Quantic School of Business and Technology, USA and a PhD in Theology from the Imanuel Bible Institute and Seminary, USA. He also holds certifications in Six Sigma and ISO 9001:2015 quality management systems.
Richard is a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GHIE), Project Management Institute (PMI, USA) and The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS, USA).
In his social life, Richard is also an ordained reverend minister and a recreational tennis player.
Director of Docks, Engineering and Management(DEM) - Mr. Prosper Nuga Kwame Nuhoho
Prosper Nuga Kwame Nuhoho joined the Volta Aluminium Company Ltd in 1986 for national service after completing his B.Sc. (Hons.) Electrical Engineering at the then University of Science and Technology in 1986. After the mandatory two year national service, he was employed in the Maintenance and Engineering Department as an electrical engineer. Whilst at VALCO, he worked as an electrical engineer in the various departments such as Cell lines, Cast House, Carbon Operations and the Docks. In 2010, Prosper left to join Vodafone Ghana where he served as Fixed Services Regional Operations Manager for Accra East and the Volta Region.
Whilst there, he was instrumental in the Fixed Services aspect of the move from decentralised telephone switches in the various major towns to a centralised telephone switch system in Accra linked to nodes called Multi Service Access nodes that replaced wiring cabinets in the field which was a major transformation for the Fixed Services.
In 2014, he joined the SIAT Group (a Belgian Company) and was sent to Nigeria as an expatriate factory manager for the Palm Oil Mill, Refinery and Packaging Plant that produced about 40,000 tons of palm oil and associated refined products annually.
In December 2019, he re-joined VALCO as the Director for Docks, Engineering and Maintenance.
He is a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and was for some years, secretary of the Electrical and Electronic Technical Committee. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana, Legon. He is married with four children .
Deputy C.E.O, General Services – Dr. Yao Yeboah, GIP, FRSH UK
Dr. Yao Yeboah is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of General Services at VALCO. His career as Development and Health Planner spans a period of 37 years. He holds a B.Sc. in Development Planning from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; M.Sc. in Epidemiology and Health Planning from the University of Wales, U.K; and Ph.D. in Development and Health Planning from the Dortmund University, Germany. He has undertaken a number of professional short Courses such as Professional Executive Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution (PECADR) and Decentralization in Ghana, the United Kingdom, Israel and several other countries.
In professional life, Yao has over the years combined teaching with his work. Positions held include District Health Planner of Presbyterian Health Services, Dormaa Municipal; National Director of Presbyterian Health Services; Director of Policy and Planning of Luke Society, Africa; and Director of The Church of Pentecost Social Services. For over 30 years Yao has taught Leadership, Management, Planning, Human Resource Management and Health Systems Management in various Ghanaian Universities such as Catholic University College of Ghana, Fiapre; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon; Pentecost University and Accra Technical University.
Yao has attended a number of International Conferences in over 25 Countries globally. He is a Member of the Ghana Institute of Planners (GIP) and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (FRSH), United Kingdom. Other positions held include the Vice Board Chairman of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) with over 350 Hospitals and Health Training Schools and Chairman of the Ghana Health Service Governing Council with over 110,000 employees.
With his rich experience in Leadership, Management and Planning, Yao joined the VALCO Team in June 2022 and as the Deputy CEO responsible among others for effective external relationships, health and safety, employees’ performance and development and management information system.
