In 1974 after graduating from Opoku Ware Secondary School, Philippe left for Duke University, USA and in 1977 graduated with a BA in Economics and Sociology. In 1980, Philippe graduated from Virginia Technology Institute & State University with a Master’s degree in Accountancy.

Philippe worked as a Senior Consultant with Andersen Consulting, in Houston, Texas and in 1984 joined The Coca-Cola Company. In his 27 years with The Coca-Cola Company, he has worked in the US and Africa in positions of increasing responsibility including Group Information Systems Director for Africa & the Middle East and Franchise Director/General Manager for the Mid-Africa and Equatorial Africa Franchises.

In his current role as PAC Director, Philippe leads The Coca-Cola System in implementing the company’s philanthropic strategies in nine West African countries and is responsible for coordinating The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation’s activities in North and West Africa. Philippe leads the Coca-Cola Company’s efforts to make a positive and sustainable contribution to the communities in which it does business in the areas of water and sanitation, health, education and entrepreneurship. This role gives Philippe the opportunity to make a positive difference in the living conditions of African communities.

Philippe serves on the board of a number of organizations including Junior Achievement, United Way Ghana. He is the currernt president of the American Chamber of Commerce.
Philippe is married to Jessica. They have two daughters. He is an avid golfer and loves jazz and high-life music.

Ms. Mona Boyd  - Since co-founding U-Save Car Rentals (now Avis Rent A Car) and Land Tours Ghana Limited with her husband (Mr. Kuma Kumahia),  Ms. Boyd has been responsible for a number of management areas in both companies including, marketing, planning and business development. She currently holds the position of CEO for Land Tours and Managing Director of Avis Ghana.
Before moving to Ghana with her husband, Ms. Boyd held a wide range of senior management positions in corporate America in several fields including:

• Director of Recruitment, Massachusetts Correctional Department, Boston MA 1978 – 1980
• Human Resources Manager, Lesley College, Cambridge, MA 1980 - 1983
• Human Resources Manager, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Reading MA 1983 - 1986
• North  East Divisional Manager, Benchmark Incorporated,  Boston, MA 1987 – 1993
• Co -founded Land Tours Gh. Limited and U-Save Car Rentals (now Avis Rent A Car) 1994

Ms. Boyd is a dual citizen of the United States of America and Ghana.  She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston University and has completed extensive executive training in fiscal operations, human resources, sales and marketing. She is currently working on an Executive MBA Degree at the University Of Ghana. She is active with community work through out Ghana and is the founder of Land Tours for sustainable tourism; an organization that has assisted five (5) Ghanaian villages to develop tourism income producing projects.

Heather Byrnes received her B.A. from Georgetown University in 1991, and studied as a Fulbright Scholar in Tampere, Finland in 1992-1993.

Early in her career, Heather worked as a Legislative Aide in the Alaska State Legislature, and as European Marketing Administrator for Best Western International - where she was responsible for coordinating trade show participation for trade shows across Europe. Heather also spent two months as a researcher in Magadan, Siberia; gathering information to aid Alaskan businesses wishing to set up trade links with buyers in Siberia.

Prior to joining the U.S. Commercial Service, Heather served on the board of directors of one of Europe’s largest market research agencies. Based in Dublin for over a decade, Heather led client account teams servicing both multi-nationals and
medium-sized companies. Heather's areas of expertise included development of new products and services for existing markets and identification and exploitation of new markets for her clients.

Heather served as Commercial Officer in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 2006 to June 2008. She began her tour as Senior Commercial Officer in Ghana in August 2008. In her new role, she has worked on a number of initiatives to assist in the development of the oil and gas sector in Ghana.

A former AFS Exchange Student in Lapland, Heather speaks fluent Finnish and has a working knowledge of Russian and Zulu.

Doris Kafui Kwawukume (Mrs) Holds an MBA in Marketing with a dynamic Marketing/Sales career which reflects pioneering experience and record breaking performance in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry. Accomplished and results driven senior marketing and sales executive with a consistent and documented record of developing new products. A proven performer and a productive team leader.

Worked in the past 13 years in various positions in SC Johnson Ghana. Currently the Managing Director, SC Johnson Ghana and Marketing Director for its operations in the West Africa Cluster. Responsible for:

• Overseeing the financial management of the SCJ Ghana; providing vision regarding overall financial health of Company.
• Providing leadership in long range fiscal planning to ensure the continuity and solvency of company. Assists in development of forms and tools to increase company’s efficiency and risk management.
• Formulating and executes strategic marketing and promotional plans intended to achieve exceptional market penetration in the West Africa cluster.

Past positions in SC Johnson have been Marketing Director West Africa from 2007 to 2009, Marketing Manager Ghana from 2001 to 2007, Brands and key Account Manager from 1999 to 2001 and Assistant Brands Manager from 1996 to 1999.

Is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana.

Born 23rd April 1969, is a product of Wesley Girls’ High School and University of Ghana for a bachelors in Geography and Resource Development and Executive Master in Business Administration.

Married to Kobla Kwawukume, have a 7 year old vivacious daughter Kekeli.

An avid sportsperson Doris frequently plays squash and tennis.

Emmanuel Asamoah has a combined 30 years experience in Housing Finance and corporate investments. He worked for Federal National Mortgage Association (popularly known as Fannie Mae) in various positions for ten years with the last two years as a Senior Business Analyst in Multifamily Housing Department. Fannie Mae is the world’s largest secondary mortgage institution. Before Fannie Mae, Emmanuel was an Assistant Manager for Avco Financial Services, a consumer finance company in both Atlanta, Georgia and Lanham, Maryland. He also has twelve years experience as a Mortgage Banker in Ghana. Emmanuel worked for HFC Bank Limited as the Head of Mortgage Operations. He also spent two years in the Gambia to develop that country’s Housing Finance Institution, Home Finance Company of the Gambia of which he became the first Managing Director. He joined Fidelity Bank to head their Mortgage Operations and was responsible for setting up the mortgage operations department. Emmanuel is now the Country Manager for Blue Financial Services in Ghana.

Emmanuel also has four years teaching experience as an Adjunct Professor at Trinity University in Washington, D.C. where he taught causes in Financial Management, International Finance, International Marketing and Business Finance. He also taught Business Finance at the University of Ghana Business School as well as Regent University in Accra.

Emmanuel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Greenville College in Illinois, and a Master’s degree in Financial Management from Southeastern University in Washington, DC.

Leslie Nelson is responsible for developing and expanding the growth of GE’s businesses throughout West Africa, which includes GE Energy, GE Water & Process Technologies, GE Transportation, GE Oil & Gas, GE Security, GE Healthcare and GE Financial Services. He is based out of Accra, Ghana.
Leslie started his career at New York Investment Bank Merrill Lynch as a Business Analyst and also worked with UBS Financial Services as a Senior Associate. Leslie moved on to Princeton, NJ based Telecom Company, SES Americom (formerly GE American Communications), where he held various positions such as Senior Manager and Director of Strategic Market and Business Development. More recently Leslie was a Vice President in GE Commercial Finance and subsequently the Senior Transaction Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of an Infrastructure Financial Institution in Abuja, Nigeria
Leslie brings extensive financial services experience in areas such as M&A, Business and Market Development, Infrastructure Project Finance as well as Structured Finance. He has hands on experience in Infrastructure Finance in Africa across various industry sectors. He brings with him an extensive network of relationships with Development Finance institutions in the US, Europe and Governments West Africa 

Leslie was born in London, England to Ghanaian parents. He graduated from the University of Ghana with a B.A. in History and English with Honors and later earned an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business in Finance and International Business

Emmanuel Addo is the founder and managing director of Admedia FCB and has closely three decades of experience in the ad agency business. He has managed the agency business of multinational firms like Nestle, Coca-Cola, Guinness, Unilever, Barclay, Standard Chartered Bank and others.

Born in 1947, Mr.Addo has also worked in several countries including Liberia and Sierra Leone. He holds a post-graduate diploma in mass communication from the University of Ghana. He is also a past president of the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG) and currently an executive member of the association. He is a member of the Rotary Club (Accra East), member Achimota Golf Club and an Executive Committee member of DraftFCB Africa.

Philip Cummings has been in charge of the Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy since autumn 2008, where he assists U.S. companies in understanding the economic and investment climate of Ghana, and manages the bilateral economic and financial relationship.

A ten-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, Philip has also served with distinction in multiple postings in East Asia and Washington, D.C. before coming to Africa. Philip received his Master's Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley and is a native of Los Angeles, CA. He speaks Japanese and Korean and is interested in photography, world music, camping with his family, and exploring new cultures.