Don Wehby - Focused on achievements

Standing outside GraceKennedy's office on Harbour Street in downtown Kingston on a recent Thursday afternoon, I struck up a conversation with a security guard. He had moments earlier helped me negotiate a precarious parking manoeuvre that involved high drama, nail-biting suspense, and eventual triumph. I was quite proud to have pulled it off and fully intended to bask in the glory of my moment with the kind uniformed fellow as long as possible.

"Yuh can drive, man," he said. I feigned humility for a while, telling him it was just a "lucky" park. "No big deal," I lied. Then I asked him if he would be good enough to point me in the direction of GraceKennedy's well-known boss, Don Wehby. "Is Mr Don yuh ah go check?" he asked. I told him it was, and that it would be my first time meeting him. "Mr Don alright, man. Dem man deh alright," the security guard beamed. I asked him if he had known Wehby a long time. "Mi never really have no dealings wid him, yuh know," the man replied. "Not me personally. But is a man who always mannersable and ting. Mi have security bredrin who work wid him and him deal wid dem good. Dem man deh alright."

He walked with me to the front door of GraceKennedy and opened it to allow me to go in. "Take care," he said and walked off.

Inside, I told the front office receptionist that I had come to meet with Wehby. Without delay, I was ushered inside and given directions to the boss' office. A woman with a friendly face offered me a seat. "Mr Wehby will be right out," she said. After a few minutes, Wehby rounded the corner with a wide, welcoming smile. "Good to see you," he said. We shook hands and made the short walk to a meeting room where Wehby and I would be having lunch. "Things can get really hectic, so whenever I can have a meeting over lunch, I'm happy," he laughed.

Dynamic professional

Sitting across from him as he negotiated a plate of rice and chicken, a constant smile on his face and an easy, relaxed way about him, it was possible to forget how highly regarded Wehby is. Ask around a bit and you'll quickly find out that his colleagues think of him as one of the most dynamic professionals and brightest minds on the local financial scene. There is little wonder. His accomplishments are already widely known. Consider this: during his tenure as chief operating officer of the Financial Services Division, he raised pre-tax profits from $280 million in 2000 to $1.417 billion in 2005. At GraceKennedy, which he joined in 1995 as group finance manager, he's continued building on his reputation. He was part of the efforts to make GraceKennedy Jamaica's first cross-listed company. In addition to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the company listed in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange in St Kitts. He also managed the acquisition of Trafalgar Commercial Bank (now First Global Bank) and has led a drive to invest in the development of staff members.

Wehby meets with every new employee personally and has an open-door policy. In fact, his office has no door.

We started talking about schools. He's a proud past student of St George's College. "I think that the teachers there and the values that they instilled in us students really had a big impact on me. That really helped shape my way of thinking and the way I approach things," he said. Wehby later attended the University of the West Indies (UWI), where he earned a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a master of Science degree in accounting. He also completed an Advanced Management College certificate course at Stanford University in the United States. "I'm very proud of my studies at UWI. We have some of the very best lecturers here in Jamaica. They are just first-class," he said.

Wehby has clearly enjoyed great success in his professional career. I asked him how he stays motivated. "Well, the key is to keep setting goals for yourself," he said. "In my current role, there are very specific things that I want to achieve. I really am focused on ensuring that GraceKennedy keeps growing. I want us to be a global company. Once you keep setting goals for yourself and keep your mind on achieving them, you will not get bored. I have a vision and I intend to see it through."Wehby said he was also considering his legacy and wants to do all he can, while he can, to build a good one.

Stint at finance ministry

In 2007, Wehby went on secondment from GraceKennedy to take on a two-year stint as a government senator and minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance. It's an experience that taught him a lot. "The most striking thing was how long it takes to get things done. The public sector is vastly different from the private sector. The bureaucracy and red tape slow things down in government and it can be a really hard adjustment to make." He still considers it a great experience and, even though it forced him to make a great financial sacrifice, he particularly relished the opportunities the job gave him to work with like-minded persons from around the world.

Would he do it again? "No," he smiled. "I feel like I did my duty in that way and there are so many other ways in which I can help make Jamaica a better place. There are several other ways I can contribute to nation building."

Wehby said that Jamaica could be made better if we focused on some critical areas: tax reform, fiscal responsibility, law and order, bureaucracy, and education. "If we made the changes we need to make and gave these areas the attention they deserve, then the benefits would be great," he said.

Wehby is a workaholic, but within reason. You'll find him at his office daily from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m. doing what he needs to do to achieve his vision for GraceKennedy. But outside of those hours, you're most likely to find him with family. "I don't work on weekends. Those are for my wife and children. I tell people that I have an appointment with my daughter Abigail at bedtime every night," he smiled.

His children, perhaps, help him stay on top of technology. He's an avid tweeter with close to 3,000 followers on Twitter. "When I realised the power and the reach of Twitter, I decided I had to see what this was all about. It is a great way to stay in touch with our customers and I get to have a lot of engagement with them in this way."

Our lunch had now come to an end. I assumed that, like a typical CEO, Wehby would need to rush off to attend to all the matters that would have arisen from his now near two-hour meeting with me. But he didn't. Instead, he sat back in his chair and started asking about me and what I do, the schools I attended and so on. "Now, I'm interviewing you!" he laughed. Eventually, we said goodbye and, as he walked back into his office and I towards the exit, I could hear an employee reciting a litany of matters that now urgently required his attention.

Back downstairs and outside, I saw someone waving from across the road. It was the security guard I had met earlier. "Mr Don alright, nuh true?" he shouted. I nodded. "Yeah man, Mr Don alright. Dem man deh alright," he said.