Director-General of SSNIT to receive award

The Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, has been nominated as an award recipient at the Ghana Procurement and Supply Chain Awards (GPSCA), which will be organised in Accra today.

The nomination of Dr Ofori-Tenkorang as the Public Transformation Procurement Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Year Award, is in recognition of his “outstanding service, innovation and tireless efforts to Mother Ghana.”

In a letter dated July 27, 2018, the Board of the GPSCA said, “Your immense contribution to transparent procurement process, cutting down costs, procurement evaluation and monitoring at SSNIT, which invariably led to protecting the nation’s public purse, have been considered as a yardstick for this award.”

The board of the GPSCA said procurement and supply chain functions were now playing roles in the success of businesses, and by playing such strategic roles, their function had risen to huge prominence in a highly competitive global business environment.

GPSCA

It is the first time GPSCA will celebrate outstanding achievements as it rewards companies, teams, stakeholders and individuals who have demonstrated unparalleled ability to succeed and continually set standards of excellence in the procurement sector.

The award is meant to change the mindset of people by rewarding exceptional talents, teams and organisations which have demonstrated excellence in delivering best practice and innovation in the procurement and supply chain sector in Ghana.

Profile

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang is an Investment Banker, Engineer and an Academic.

He attended St. Peter’s Secondary School at Nkwatia-Kwahu in the Eastern Region and Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Victoria, BC, Canada, where he obtained his International Baccalaureate Diploma.

He later attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was awarded Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Engineer, and Doctor of Science Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Sigma XI Honour societies.

At MIT, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang was an instructor and won the Carlton E. Tucker Teaching Award for Best Teacher. He developed novel electric motors and propulsion systems for electric vehicles for the Ford Motor Company.

As an engineer, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang did work for Quantum Corporation in Milpitas, CA , Lutron Electronics Co. in Coopersburg, PA, Puerto Rico, and St. Kitts, where he developed state-of-the-art light dimming technologies.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang is an inventor, and was awarded United States Patent No. 4987372 for his work in lighting controls.

After MIT, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang made a career change and joined American International Group (AIG) in their financial services subsidiary-AIG Trading Group.

As an Assistant Vice-President and subsequently Vice-President, he developed innovative insurance solutions that combined traditional insurable risks with capital market risks, which improved earnings and reduced earnings volatility for corporations.

He also developed alternative asset classes for pension funds to achieve better diversification.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang moved on to AIG Financial Products Corp. (AIGFP) as Vice-President, and Banque AIG as Executive Director. He was sent to the South African office, where he was responsible for AIGFP’s investment banking activities in Africa.

He developed AIGFP’s capital markets businesses in the areas of Commodity Derivatives, Equity and Fixed-income Derivatives, Foreign Exchange, Structured Tax Products and Project Finance.

He left AIG in 2006 to work with Gödel Commodities Management, Greenwich, CT, USA, and Dubai Natural Resources World, Dubai, UAE, as an independent contractor, where he offered consulting services in deal structuring and the setting up of a Natural Resources Sovereign Wealth Fund within the Dubai World conglomerate.

Prior to his appointment as Director General of SSNIT, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang worked in the office of the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as Technical Advisor. He is fluent in French.