Wilmot J. M. Paye, Group Chairman of Premier Global Trust Group of Companies, brings into our Boardroom a vast trove of knowledge and wealth of experience spanning more than two decades. A recent former Minister of Mines and Energy of Liberia, Chairman Paye has served on many corporate boards. He served on the boards of Liberia Electricity Corporation, National Oil Company of Liberia, National Housing Authority, Rural and Renewable Energy Agency, National WASH Commission, Chair of Multi-Sectoral Group for Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Standard Construction Services (SCS), Inc, and Adventist University of West Africa (AUWA). As Minister of Mines and Energy, he introduced critical reforms that transformed Liberia’s Energy and Mineral sectors. As a result, the mining sector grew by 17% during the period 2024-2025 while the Energy sector underwent remarkable transformation, including the development of a National Energy Compact, updating of the National Energy Policy, and improvement in Energy Sector Governance, etc.

The administrative, managerial, leadership and professional roles Chairman Paye has played cover broad areas within the private and public sectors. He was Senior Project Mining Engineer, Administrative Assistant and Special Assistant in the Ministry of Gender and Development (now Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection); Assistant Minister for Research and Technical Services, Assistant Minister for Land and Rail Transport, Assistant Minister for Commerce and Trade, National Secretary-General and National Chairman of the Unity Party (UP), respectively. In many of these roles, he represented Liberia at major international conferences, participating in bilateral and multilateral discussions. He was a candidate in the 2023 elections during which time he contested for a seat in The Liberian Senate, coming second to the winner in the race to represent Montserrado County, Liberia’s most populous province. Following the elections, he served on the twenty-member Joint Presidential Transition Team (JPTT), the body established to oversee the transition. He then led the Energy and Petroleum Cluster Working Group, a team of industry experts that assessed the policy and regulatory environments across the Mining and Energy sectors. Findings from this assessment informed the reforms.

During his tenure as Minister of Mines and Energy, revenue from the mineral sector grew by more than 60% over the period 2024-2025. The ministry reported more than US$124m in revenue against an annual target of US$112m for 2024, and more than US$182m against US$143m for 2025, respectively. He proposed the establishment of a National Mining Company for Liberia and promulgated more than half a dozen new regulations. He improved productivity through decentralization, digitalization and modernization of infrastructure. The reforms he introduced also restored public trust and investor confidence in the Energy and Mineral sectors. But prior to his appointment, these sectors were marred by massive corruption, incompetence and low productivity. Widely respected across Liberia, he represented Liberia at several sub-regional, continental and global gatherings, including the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development, Council of Ministerial Meetings of Association of Diamond Producers of Africa, Africa Mineral Strategy Group, Association of Power Utilities of Africa, US-Africa Business Summit, Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, etc.