Management


Ishmael is an Energy Economist with experience that spans public service, private sector, civil society and academia. He was the Regulatory and Electricity Market Expert at USAID West Africa Energy Program, Deloitte Ghana.  Through a collaboration between the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive and the Government of Ghana (GOGIG), he was recruited as a Technical Advisor on Energy and Petroleum Policies to the Minister for Planning. In this role, he led the team that developed the energy and petroleum sections of the 2017 and 2021 Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies.

Ishmael was the first Coordinator of Local Content at the Ghana Energy Commission where he initiated an industry-wide baseline study before the full implementation of the Local Content Regulations. Related to this role, he served on the technical Committee that reviewed Ghana’s Energy Policy and was a member of the technical sub-committee of the Energy Sector Recovery Program. He worked as the Head of Policy Unit, at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, where he coordinated research and advocacy on sustainable energy management, regulations and petroleum revenue management.  Ishmael was awarded the Rising Star Award, at the 2017 Ghana Energy Awards. In addition, he was selected for the 2018 Australian Awards Africa, for Energy and Mineral Economics.

He has a keen interest in energy research and served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies, University of Cape Coast and the Department of Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and GIMPA. He has provided research consultancy for the African Development Bank, United Nations University, United Nations Commission for Africa, IHS Markit, GOGIG/OPM, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the National Accreditation Board, SNV and SEND Ghana among others. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals. 

Ishmael holds PhD in Energy Economics (Portsmouth- UK) MSc in Energy Economics (Surrey-UK) and a degree from UPSA. He is conversant with modelling tools such as Oxmetrics, and Eviews.

  • Position: Executive Secretary
  • Name: Dr. Ishmael Ackah