Governance

Ms. Sylvia Francois

Ms. Sylvia Francois, BSc (Hons), Architectural Design | PG Dip Arch. |GIA | RIBA: CEO of Chateaux Homes Ltd – a Real Estate Company – as well as Founder and Managing Partner of Urban Facade Ltd, an Architectural firm.

She obtained her Professional Practice qualification (RIBA Part 3) in 1989, and registered as an Associate Member at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the same year. She was admitted as an Associate of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) in 1995, and is a Past Treasurer to the Council at GIA. With six years professional working experience in the United Kingdom, Ms. Francois has worked with firms like Goldstein & Ween Architects and Elsworth Sykes in London, UK. She was involved in the design of the Channel Tunnel Exhibition Hall; the refurbishment of a private house in Maida Vale, West London; the Office Complex for Beaver Developments on Bath Rd, Heathrow; the Sainsbury’s Superstore in Croydon, South London; and the refurbishment of the Dept. of Health and Social Security offices in Thornton Heath, Greenwich, and Brixton.

In Ghana, Ms. Francois has a substantial portfolio of Real Estate corporate and private clients. She has designed, refurbished, and completed several residential homes, estates, high rise apartments, offices, and several branches of insurance companies. Projects include the ICGC Adenta Auditorium, Transitions Funeral Home, the Mixed Development Scheme for Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB), among many others. With extensive experience in the area of “design and build” projects, Sylvia combines Architectural Design and Project Management with full administrative duties at Chateaux Homes Ltd. Sylvia supports several charitable projects in Ghana including Help Age Ghana, Hearts of the Father Orphanage, and the New Horizon Special School.

She is Board Chairman of the New Horizon Special School, and a Trustee of the Hearts of the Father Orphanage in Ningo, Greater Accra.

Justice Helena Abban

Mrs. Justice Helena-Inkumsah Abban (RTD) was called to the English Bar in 1974 and to the Ghana Bar in 1976. She has served in various capacities of the criminal and civil law fields various capacities in Ghana and in the United Kingdom, including as Executive Secretary in the Department of Labour and Social Welfare in Accra, State Attorney in the Attorney General’s Office (Prosecutions) in Ghana, Legal Officer in the London Borough of Lambeth, Circuit Court Judge in Accra, and High Court Judge, also in Accra. She has worked for the Inland Revenue Department of Health and Social Security, in the Department of Employment, and in the Lord Chancellor’s Department.

Helena Abban is currently Board Chair of the Data Protection Commission in Ghana, the past treasurer of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association, and she holds memberships in the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inns, the Association of International Women Judges, the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International in Accra, the New Horizon Special school, and the Parents Association of Children with Intellectual Disability (PACID). A proud alumni of Wesley Girls High School, Helena is currently President of Manor Valley Residents’ Association in East Legon, a member of the Calvary Methodist Church Development Committee, and a Patron of both the Singing Band and Youth Association at Calvary Methodist Church.

Ms. Vicky Wireko

Vicky Wireko-Andoh is an accomplished PR professional with specialties in Media Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate communications, and Public Affairs. A former Head of Corporate Relations at Unilever Ghana, she has served in various leadership capacities with the Institute of Public Relations Fellow (IPR), including as Vice President, President, Council Member, Chairperson, Education and Membership Accreditation Committee, Resource Person at the Institute's Accreditation Course, and Fellow. Ms. Wireko-Andoh is an award-winning columnist, co-author of two books, and Editor of ‘Ridge Alive’ - the House Magazine of Accra Ridge Church. She has contributed to over 600 published articles in the Daily Graphic, Myjoyonline.com and other periodicals.

Vicky is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association the Editors Forum, Ghana, and has served as a Board Member of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), The Multimedia Group, GN Media, Coconut Grove Hotels, Millennium Excellence Foundation, CSR Foundation, Ghana, and Advisory Board Member of Airtel Ghana Foundation. She currently holds memberships on the Boards of Multimedia Education Fund, Zawadi Ghana Educational Foundation, New Horizon Special School, Happy Kids Schools, and Zonta Club of Accra. She is a former Council Member of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) Pensions Academy.

Mrs. Esi Tawia Addo-Ashong

Esi Tawia Addo-Ashong is a Barrister at Law with over three decades of experience in the provision of legal advice and services in Ghana. Mrs. Addo-Ashong is currently the Managing Partner for Ashong Benjamin and Associates, a law firm in Accra. She has participated in some significant mining projects and transactions; advising inter alia on licensing and regulatory issues and drafting and negotiating agreements for the sector. She has done substantial work developing anti-corruption programs for corporations, which comply with the UK Bribery Act, the FCPA and the Ghanaian laws on corruption. Ms. Addo-Ashong began her career in 1989 at Sey and Co. Law Office and moved to Integrity Financial Services in 1994. She later became the Manager for Legal services at Deloitte and Touche and later assumed the role of Managing Director at Dehands services (Company Secretarial wing of Deloitte and Touche). In 2002, she became the Head, Legal and Company Secretary at SIC Company Limited. She moved to Newmont Ghana Gold Limited in 2007 as the Director of Legal and Government Relations.

Tawia studied Leadership Cohort Program at University of Denver and Mining Agreements at University of Dundee, Scotland. Prior to that, she participated in a short course on Mining Agreements at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. She is a director on the board of New Horizon Special School. She holds a B.A (Hons.) degree Law and Political Science from University of Ghana and was called to the Bar in Ghana in 1989. Mrs. Addo-Ashong was appointed to the Stanbic Bank Board of Director in 2020. She was appointed Chairperson of the Stanbic Board in March 2022.

Ms. Nilla Selormey

Ms. Nilla Selormey is a Corporate Banker with over 25 years of experience in West Africa, including with three greenfield bank operations in Ghana – Ecobank (1990), Zenith Bank (2005), Fidelity Bank (2006), and Universal Merchant Bank (2014-15). Her specialty is in Business Development in Banking for West African markets with multinational & International Corporate names.

Ms. Selormey set up and headed the Institutional Banking department for Ecobank Ghana, assisted with the set up of the Corporate Initiative Ghana Annual Banking Awards and developed key relationships with Bilateral, Multinational and quasi-Governmental organizations as well as international and regional NGO’s. Nilla managed relationships on a global level for the Ecobank group, successfully executing mandates to partner with International Organizations across Africa for the provision of Banking Services. She successfully headed the turn around of Universal Merchant Bank as the Managing Director of the institution from January 2014 to March 2015.

Dr. George Francois

George Francois is an Associate Professor at Ashesi University, and the Interim Executive Director of the New Horizon Special School. An alumnus of The Juilliard School in New York City, Dr. Francois holds degrees from the University of Ghana, Legon, the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, U.K., the University of Texas at Austin, and Stony Brook University. A pianist, composer, writer, producer, music director and Arts Educator, he has performed in the United Kingdom, the United States, and in the Caribbean including at the Free trade Hall in Manchester, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center NYC, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Metropolitan Museum, Lerner Hall, and St. Paul’s Chapel.