Friends of Liberia
Friends of Liberia Board of Trustees
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 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.
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.
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.
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.