Friends of Liberia Leadership
Stephanie Vickers - President
Stephanie Schnabel Vickers served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sanniquellie
from 1971-1973 and then worked as a trainer for Peace Corps until 1975
working all over Liberia. Stephanie worked initially as a teacher trainer
with Liberian counterparts but then was recruited to teach 7-12th grades
at St Mary's for Father Francis (now Archbishop Francis). She has been
a member of Friends of Liberia since the early 1990s and became more active in
2001 volunteering to be the site administrator for the LEAP teacher training
project.
Stephanie has returned to Liberia in 2001, 2002 and twice in 2004 to work with LEAP trainers and teachers and help establish the new NGO, Liberian Educators for Action and Peace. After retiring from a 34 year teaching career, primarily in Portland, Oregon and raising her two sons, she has become more involved with FOL and has volunteered to serve as President. It is her hope that there are more returned volunteers like herself that may be able to carve out some time to support FOL's projects.
Since 2002 Stephanie and other Portland Liberian RPCVs have held an annual fund raiser for LEAP. In addition to her FOL volunteering, Stephanie serves on the advisory council for the African Women's Coalition, a local organization supported by the Office of Refugee and Resettlement that supports women and children who have fled Africa either as a refugee or an immigrant and have settled in Portland.
Pat Reilly - Vice President
Pat Reilly, a native of New Jersey, was a volunteer Peace Corps English teacher at Bassa High School in Buchanan, Liberia, from 1972-75. On returning to the United States, she was a Peace Corps recruiter in New York City and on the campus of Ohio University while earning a master’s in Journalism. A career in newspapers brought her to Washington, D.C., in 1990, where she became active in Friends of Liberia just as the civil war was beginning. She was on the executive committee as the former social/alumni group transformed itself into a force for advocating peace in Liberia throughout the 1990s. In 1998, Pat was instrumental in securing funding for the Liberian Education Assistance Project, LEAP, a teacher-training project focused on early childhood education in Liberian schools. She coordinated the planning by five master U.S. teachers and administered the first workshop at Cuttington University in 1999. As vice president, she is involved in the communications committee of FOL. She helps to edit “Liberian Cookhouse Cooking,” a popular cookbook that has raised funding for FOL projects.
Pat lives in Virginia and works in public affairs for a federal agency. She is also a former chair off the board of the National Peace Corps Association and often acts as liaison between FOL and the NPCA.
Pat McGeorge - Secretary
Pat McGeorge was a Lutheran Missionary Nurse at Curran Lutheran Hospital in Zorzor, Lofa County, Liberia from 1970-1971. She met her husband Jim, who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zorzor, while working at Curran Hospital.
After returning to the United States, Pat worked as a RN in a hospital in Tucson. In 1974 Pat completed the Certificate Program for Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) and then earned a Masters' Degree in Pediatric Nursing. Pat taught in the Nursing and Nurse Practitioner programs at the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. She has also worked in a variety of clinics for uninsured or underinsured families as a FNP and started and ran a school-based program for uninsured children.
Pat is now retired and lives in Flagstaff, AZ with her husband, Jim. She volunteers with the US Forest Service in their trails and wilderness program, in a 3rd grade class at a local elementary school, and as a Docent at the Arboretum at Flagstaff.
Pat joined FOL in 1996 and has been the Secretary for FOL since September, 2009. Pat and her husband Jim have 2 children.
Jim Bowman - Treasurer
Jim Bowman served three years in Liberia (1968-70) as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Maryland County. Returned with a Friends of Liberia election observer team in 1997.
Following his Peace Corps service Bowman worked for the University of Nebraska for 16 years in three different departments: English, Continuing Studies, and Engineering. In 1986 Bowman was employed by the Lutheran Church in Nebraska to work on social justice issues at the state legislative level.
In 1999 Jim became director of the Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC for Lutheran World Relief. In 2004 Jim retired to Albuquerque, NM. Other than treasurer duties for FOL which seems at times to be a half -time job.
- Serves on a national Advisory Committee for Corporate Social Responsibility for the Lutheran Church
- Goes to as many jazz and salsa music events as he can
- baby sits his grandchildren
- collaborates with an architect friend in Nebraska on building projects in Massachusetts, Colorado and Nebraska
- spends time in his woodworking shop
Jim was an election observer for the October 2005 election.
Jim McGeorge – Membership Coordinator
Jim McGeorge served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zorzor, Lofa County from 1968 – 71. He taught at Antoinette Tubman Junior High School for two years and worked as a rural construction volunteer in Zorzor District for another year. He met his future wife Pat who was a nurse at Curran Hospital in Zorzor where they got engaged.
Before retiring to Flagstaff, AZ in 2003, Jim worked for the City of Tucson for 5 years and the City of Tempe for 25 years. He has BS and MPA from the University of Arizona. In addition to helping FOL, Jim currently volunteers with the US Forest Service---Coconino National Forest, serves as a basketball coach at Coconino High School, assists the Peace Corps coordinator for Northern Arizona, and serves on Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl committees.
Jim joined FOL in 1996 and has served as Membership Coordinator since 2003. He and his wife Pat have two children, Christi and Adam.
Verlon Stone - Electronic News Coordinator
Mike
Waite served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in
Tapeta from 1974-1975 where he did forestry work.
In 1997 Mike traveled to Liberia as an Election Observer with the Friends of Liberia and assisted the LEAP teacher trainer group in 2004. He has been a member of the Friends of Liberia since the early 90's.
Mike worked for the US Forest Service for 30 years in various locations in the Pacific Northwest and in Mississippi. In 2007 he retired from the Forest Service and moved from Mississippi to Vancouver, Washington.
He was one of the members of the 2009 FOL group that traveled to Liberia, where he worked on transportation for the group and headed up an environmental survey project. He enjoys travel, and photographing his grandchildren and numerous other people who would prefer not to have their picture taken.
Mike has three children and five grandchildren who all live in the NW.
Friends of Liberia Board of Trustees
Robert Sharer
Board Chair
Robert Sharer was born and raised in London, England, and educated at the London School of Economics and the London Business School. After a brief spell working in finance in London, he joined the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. He has spent the majority of his long career with the IMF working in the Africa Region, serving as an economist and eventually as an assistant director. He has led teams that negotiated economic programs with countries that the IMF supported with substantial, highly concessional loans to help development. During 1980-83, he served in Liberia as the IMF's resident representative, working with officials in the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. He met his future wife in Liberia. He has subsequently worked in many African countries and has traveled extensively throughout the continent.
A member of FOL since its early days in the 1980s, Robert has recently joined the Board to use his background and experience to help FOL in its efforts to help Liberians.
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Delaware.
Resident and scholar of Liberia, 1951 - Present (My father was the Forestry Advisor to the Liberian Government (with AID) from 1951-1960). Founding Editor of the Liberian Studies Journal, begun in 1968 (now run by Liberian scholars).
Founder of the Institute for Liberian Studies, Philadelphia (the extensive research collection is now at Indiana University).
Participant of several AID and World Bank Projects in Liberia
Wide variety of publications, the latest "Zolu Duma, Ruler of the Southern Vai, 17??-1828: A Problem in Historical Interpretation," Liberian Studies Journal, XXVI, 2 (2001), 1-18, and most recent paper read was “Matilda Newport: The Power of a Liberian Invented Tradition,” presented at the Liberian Studies Conference, Indiana University, March 2007.
Like many members of Friends of Liberia, Terry Anderson’s connection with Liberia is through the Peace Corps. Terry worked as a high school science and math teacher in Totota, Bong County, from 1979 through 1981.
In his professional life, Terry is a writer and editor on issues of international public health and economics. His interests include public health macroeconomics; the epidemiology and social ramifications of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and hematology; cross-cultural understanding; and disability issues and rights. He has written human interest articles, complex medical studies that are accessible to lay audiences, and white papers to summarize scientific meetings. One of his current major projects is working as a writer/editor on a State Department contract that provides technical support to countries finding difficulty implementing their grants from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
A progressive communitarian, Terry manages to hold community service jobs in addition to his paid work. Among them are serving as an invasive weed specialist for Montgomery County, Maryland, and singing as a tenor in the Cathedral Voices choir at the Washington National Cathedral.
Terry became chairman of the Friends of Liberia Board of Trustees in March 2006. Terry lives in suburban Washington, DC, with Steven, his partner of 22 years.
Candace Eastman
Candace Eastman is a Liberian whose family moved to the United States in 1980 after the first coup d'etat. She began her work with Friends of Liberia as the Secretary of the organization from 2002 to 2007 and is now a board member in charge of development. She spent much of her teenage years through adulthood dedicated to community service through organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha and Mentors Inc.
Professionally she has extensive experience working in the biotechnology industry for close to 20 years, both on the corporate and non-profit side. Advancing from a bench scientist to managing business development projects, she has worked for organizations like the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH). Her experience includes investor relations, positioning emerging firms to attract investors, marketing, and launching organizations. She received a BSc in Biology from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and a MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Romelle Horton
Patricia Hough
Jefferson King
Torli Krua
Peter Levitov
A native of New Jersey, Peter Levitov taught in Harper (Cape Palmas), Liberia from September 1969 through December 1971, working as a lay volunteer with the Catholic Mission (S.M.A. Fathers), although he was not Catholic.. He taught African History and Rhetoric at Our Lady of Fatima Teachers College (now defunct) and Geography and History at Our Lady of Fatima High School while coaching basketball and doing vocational counseling as well. His daughter, who was seven months old when they arrived, learned Liberian English as her mother tongue.
After returning to the U.S., Levitov moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he has worked in international education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1972. Currently, as Associate Dean of International Affairs and Immigration Attorney, his principal responsibilities include securing temporary and permanent visa documentation for foreign faculty, post-doctoral researchers and other professional staff and in developing international linkages with universities around the world. He has traveled to about 65 countries. In 2001 Levitov coordinated the university's response to the September 11 tragedy and its impact on the international community and the institution at large. He also has served on the boards of the Lincoln human rights commission and the library.
Levitov is married and has three children. He joined the Board of Trustees of Friends of Liberia in 2003 and serves on the Executive Committee.
Saah Charles N’Tow
I am Saah Charles N’Tow. I am currently employed as a Program Manager with John Incorporated in Liberia.
I manage two programs – the Liberia Fellows’ Program and the President’s Young Professionals’ Program (PYPP): both programs are designed to support Liberia’s capacity gap. The Liberia Fellows program seeks to address Liberia’s capacity gap by identifying and supporting mid-career professionals, chosen through a highly competitive international selection process, to work with cabinet ministers and senior officials who are leading the country to a better future. Fellows typically work as special assistants to Ministers, with their responsibilities ranging from taking meeting notes and making follow-up phone calls for the Minister to drafting policy papers and negotiating major investment concession contracts.
The basic goal is to support the Ministers in their full range of activities and to make them more effective and efficient in all that they do. The program has also helped facilitate the return of the Diaspora. Almost half of the Fellows, both past and present, are Liberians who left during the conflict and have now come home because of the opportunity presented by the Fellowship. Liberia has a long term challenge, like many other post-conflict countries, to recruit and retain talented professionals, and programs like the Fellows program have made it a little easier by offering this as an option. Two members of the inaugural class continue to serve their government as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Minister of Information.
The PYPP is designed to provide additional support to ministries by identifying and placing promising and talented Liberian college graduates with a member of the Senior Staff within each Ministry. The program includes a strong training and mentoring component, pairing the young professional with a Scott Fellow or other mentor within a Ministry as well as offering a monthly professional training program. The inaugural class was funded by the Hess Foundation, and the government hopes to expand the program in the coming years to encourage a new generation of Liberians to contribute to building a strong future.
Prior to joining JSI, I worked as lead Field Researcher for the United States Institute of Peace and with the Liberia Peace Building Office, as Conflict Sensitivity Officer. It has been about three years since I returned.
I am married with three children. My wife - and children live in Providence, Rhode Island.
Michael Wotorson
Michael Wotorson serves as Executive Director of the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE), an unprecedented partnership of leading national civil rights and education advocacy organizations in the United States. As the executive director of CHSE, Michael is responsible for overseeing the coalition's federal policy and advocacy agenda, its public outreach and education activities, as well as its strategic communications and state organizing efforts.
Michael has spent his career as a dedicated advocate for educational equity and civil rights and has worked for more than 16 years as an organizer, researcher, advocate, and policy analyst. Prior to joining CHSE, Michael served as National Education Director for the NAACP, where he oversaw the associations' national policy strategy as embodied in its Call for Action in Education Initiative and developed advocacy strategies and campaigns to address racial/ethnic disparities in education in support of the organization's overall education advocacy agenda. Michael was also the principal author of the association's publication on education resource allocation called "Equity Matters."
Prior to joining the NAACP, Michael served as Director of Partners Against Hate, a federally-funded hate crime prevention and awareness project of the Anti-Defamation League. He also managed the joint Urban/Metropolitan Affairs portfolio of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Further, Michael worked as Director of School Improvement with the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, and as Co-Director of the Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington. Michael began his professional career as a campus ombudsman at the Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri.
Over the years, Michael has also maintained an organizational consulting practice and provided technical assistance to a wide array of clients including Howard University, DC Public Schools Office of Bilingual Education, Wider Opportunities for Women, House of Ruth, DC Central Kitchen, Prince George's County Human Services Coalition, and the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization.
Originally from Liberia, West Africa, Michael holds Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Michael serves on the boards of the Maryland ACLU and Nu Vision Pac. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and is married to Bindu Padmore Wotorson, also a Liberian and an attorney specializing in business immigration. The couple has three children and they live in Mitchelville, Maryland USA.