About Us
LIDI | Board of Directors
The Mission of the Liberian International Development Foundation is to promote an increased focus on private sector development in Liberia, as well as to assist the general prosperity of the Liberian people. Inside Liberia, LIDF will help fund the Liberian Institutional Development Initiative, an organization that will support and nurture socioeconomic and political institutions in Liberia to further the country's transition to a stable and prosperous democracy.
The Liberian International Development Foundation was founded in 2006 to assist the country of Liberia in revitalizing its depressed economy, increase foreign investment and assistance, and lead an international campaign to redevelop the country's infrastructure and social fabric. LIDF's Board of Directors is composed of leading international business people and eminent Liberians who have an interest in assisting Liberia to emerge from its current state of economic and political ruin. Additional board members will be added as LIDF increases its public image and begins soliciting contributions. In addition, LIDF has established its Liberia-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), the Liberia Institutional Development Initiative (LIDI), which will strive to implement LIDF-sponsored charitable missions and projects. For more information please click on LIDI link.
LIDF founders have shared their vision and its mission with Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and have requested Her Excellency to support the LIDF/LIDI program of action and to nominate a personal representative to serve as a member of the Board and as the initial chairman of LIDI. Mrs. Clavenda Bright-Parker was nominated to serve this role and was subsequently named Ambassador Without Portfolio to facilitate her functions in this regard. LIDF has developed a ten-point plan to further its mission and goals on behalf of the Republic of Liberia and its people:
1. Liberian International Financial Community Initiative
2. Liberian International Foreign Aid Initiative
3. Liberia Vocational Development Initiative
4. Liberian Urban Development Initiative
5. Liberia Literacy Initiative
6. Liberia Healthcare Initiative
7. Liberia Social Advancement Initiative
8. International Cooperative Initiative
9. Liberia Policy Institute Project
10. Liberia National Communications and Media Council
11. National Support Network Project
LIDI
LIDF is supporting the establishment of a comprehensive institution-building initiative for Liberia – the Liberian Institutional Development Initative (LIDI). LIDI is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works with all sectors of the Liberian Nation to further the efforts to implement the necessary social and economic framework, so that Liberia can become a stable and prosperous nation. LIDI's main objective is to channel humanitarian assistance to where the need is the most urgent.
LIDI will be the actual working arm of the ten proposed initiatives. For more information on the various initiatives please click here.
Board of Directors
The board of directors of the Liberian International Development Foundation is composed of some of the most prominent friends of Liberia and the Liberian people.
Ambassador Clavenda Bright-Parker
First patron and the first chairwoman of LIDF's Liberia-based NGO. She is also the special envoy to President Sirleaf. Ambassador Bright-Parker is president of Parker Industries in Monrovia, Liberia, and is the founding president of the Pharmaceutical Association of Liberia. She is also the founding president of the West African Pharmaceutical Foundation and a founding fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists.
Ethelbert J.L. Cooper, Jr.
Mr. Cooper is one of the original founders of LIDF and serves as Chairman of its Board; he is a founder and major shareholder of Afren plc., a London-listed, pan-African oil and gas company that seeks to become Africa's flagship enterprise in its sector, through the acquisition of a diversified and balanced portfolio of assets. Over the last 25 years, as an international entrepreneur, Mr. Cooper has expanded his interests in developing major projects in Africa, specifically regarding his continent's natural resources and maritime sectors.
Florence Chenoweth
Ms. Chenoweth is the director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She is a national of Liberia and holds a B.S. degree in agriculture from the University of Liberia and a Ph.D. degree in land resources from the University of Wisconsin. Her career began with prominent positions in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance in Liberia. Ms. Chenoweth served as Minister of Agriculture from 1977 to 1979.
Elwood Dunn
Mr. Dunn is a professor and chair of the political science department at the University of the South. He was an editor of the Liberian Studies Journal from 1985 to 1995. He was also Minister of State for Presidential Affairs for the government of Liberia from 1979 to 1980. Mr. Dunn is an accomplished scholar, prolific writer, and international authority in matters pertaining to the history and politics of Liberia.
Gerald Padmore
Gerald Padmore is an attorney in the Denver, Colorado office of Cox Padmore Skolnik & Shakarchy, whose practice involves natural resources litigation, international business transactions and commercial litigation. He was born in Liberia and moved to the United States in 1956. After completing Yale University in 1967 and Harvard Law School in 1970, he returned to Liberia where he taught at the University of Liberia Law School and served as Liberia's acting Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Finance and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs before moving to Denver in 1980.
Binyah Kesselly
Mr. Kesselly currently serves as Director of Process Excellence & Strategic Planning with Ortho Biotech, a unit of Johnson & Johnson. In his position, Mr. Kesselly is a member of the corporate leadership team and supports two business units of Johnson & Johnson.
Daubeny B. Cooper, III
Mr. Cooper is the founder and current managing director of Potomac Capital, a Bethesda, Maryland based financial advisory and assets management firm that was established in 2001. Mr. Cooper serves on several boards and committees in the non-profit, educational and community service arenas.
Chief Opral Mason Benson
Ms. Mason Benson had an impressive public service career both in Liberia and in Nigeria. In Liberia, she worked as the chief administrative officer, as well as coordinator for administration, at the Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor that laid the foundation for the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Between 1966 and 1967, she served as registrar for student affairs, admission officer, appointment officer, and information officer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She was foundation board member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nigeria (1971). She has also been member of the Governing Board of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; principal liaison officer, FESTAC 77 (1971); and member, Nigerian Olympic Committee (1982).
Nancee Oku-Bright
Ms. Oku-Bright is a New York-based director/producer who holds a doctorate in social anthropology from Oxford University. She currently works for the United Nations in New York as head of the Africa I Section of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She was born in Liberia.
Professor Dew Tuan Wleh Mayson
Ambassador Mayson is a veteran diplomat and civil servant that currently serves as special advisor to the president of Liberia on international affairs. Ambassador Mayson is also an accomplished businessman with several business interests in Liberia and Nigeria, where he currently resides. He has served as the Liberian Ambassador to France and as the chairman of the National Investment Commission of Liberia.
