Tameka Lewis - Board Member & Secretary
Tameka Lewis is a compassionate New York native who advocates for serving in the local and international marginalized, under-resourced communities. She has worked in the Information Technology profession for over 26 years, and is currently employed with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Tameka holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems from Clark Atlanta University and Master of Science in Information Resource Management from Central Michigan University. She is a strong supporter of initiative’s benefiting Libera and volunteers her time and expertise to LEDI.
Mrs. Lewis currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children.
William Tenisio Tarpeh -Member of the Board
William Tenisio Tarpeh brings many years of compassionate and ethical leadership to LEDI. He is a globally respected soccer athlete. William played professional soccer in Liberia for the National soccer team and also played and coached other first division teams in the country. William expanded his coaching career to Europe where he significantly imparted great morals and ethical values in the minds of the players that he coached as a youth empowerment approach.
He brings a wealth of understanding of the ills leading to the existence of poverty in Liberia. Based on his knowledge, he continues to support various initiatives fostering poverty reduction within Liberia.
He currently works for the Lord with Ambassadors Football International as they use soccer as a platform to build Christian, ethical, and moral values into the lives of young men and women here in the United States and around the world.
William is an impressive soccer coach and a motivator. He is married to Enetrice Myers Tarpeh.
Barbara Danforth, Esq. -Former Chairman of the Board
Barbara Danforth brought more than 20 years of excellent executive and civic leadership experience to the Board of LEDI. Prior to joining LEDI, she excellently served as President and CEO of the YWCA of Greater Cleveland for several years, promoting gender equality for women. She has also served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Iowa and Chief Prosecutor for the City of Cleveland. She is currently the Secretary of the Board for the City Club of Cleveland, a renowned forum where President Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and many other notable dignitaries have spoken. She is highly passionate about helping Liberia succeed and was recently in the country at the end of 2012.
Barbara is a Senior Vice President of Leadership Initiatives at Ratliff & Taylor. She holds a Juris Doctorate (Law) degree. She is sought after for her expertise in the area of diversity and inclusion, and lectures nationally and internationally on leadership. She has been recognized for her accomplishments throughout her career, most recently in 2012 she is the recipient of the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Woman of Vision Award by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women; in 2008 recognized as “The Influentials –50 People Changing North.
Dr. Gwendolyn Butler -Former Vice Chairman of the Board
Dr. Gwendolyn Butler brought very strong and excellent professional and technical leadership to the Board of LEDI. Prior to joining LEDI, she has consulted with global corporations such as Coca-Cola, Siemens, Unilever and the U.S. Naval Division of Homeland Security as an SAP Systems Engineer and Information Security Expert, specializing in governance, risk and compliance. She is affectionately called “Dr. G” and known by leaders around the world. She has been most effective in delivering a superior level of leadership, training and development to top executives in small businesses and non-profit organizations.
In 2002, Dr. G established Oasis Consulting Group to administer her own unique blend of business and human capital development programs. Dr. G invited 15 business partners to join her efforts to help people and businesses grow beyond financial or geographical barriers. As of 2010, Dr. G and the Oasis partners have trained over 100,000 executives and leaders around the world. Dr. G is compassionate about helping Liberia to succeed. For the past 8 years, she has cultivated many relationships within the U.S. and Africa, working to support the development in Liberia.
Dr. Butler is the Director of Training and Capacity Development at Oasis Consulting Group. She holds a Doctorate of Divinity and a Masters in Christian Education from Wilbur Waters School of Religion in Maryland, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Canon Bible College & University of Florida.
Eric Peiffer -Former Member of the Board
Eric Peiffer brought professional and administrative leadership to LEDI combined with a strong desire to help care for the less fortunate and the economically disadvantaged by providing the tools necessary to succeed. He has a particular desire to provide compassionand help to those in Liberia.
He has involved himself in a number of secular and non-secular charities and ministries, and presently also serves as a board member of Ambassadors Football, an international organization that brings hope to others through soccer-based Christian ministries.
Eric is currently a Managing Director at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland, Ohio. He heads the high-grade and high-yield capital markets efforts, in which capacity KeyBanc raises capital for corporate clients in the fixed-income debt markets. His prior experience includes corporate banking at J.P. Morgan in New York and public accounting as a CPA at Deloitte.
He graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Richard Lipnick -Former Secretary of the Board
Richard Lipnick brought strong leadership to LEDI. Prior to joining LEDI, he served as Vice President and Communications Officer Beta Alpha Psi at the Cleveland State University. He is highly passionate about working on international mission especially in Liberia for LEDI.
He holds a Masters of Accountancy degree from the Cleveland State University and another Masters of Arts in History from the State University of New York College at Buffalo.
Patrick M. Cooper -Former Member of the Board
Patrick Cooper brought compassionate community-based leadership to LEDI. He is a strong supporter of initiatives benefiting Liberia. He also brings many years of profound technical technological expertise to LEDI.
Prior to joining LEDI, Patrick continues to serve in many professional capacities. He is the Owner and CEO of The Chareg Group, LLC a Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) Consulting company. He is also an Applications Architect / Senior Systems Analyst /Project Manager /Lead Developer with more than 20 years of experience in mainframe, internet, mid-range and network client/server applications. He has functional and technical expertise in the installation, configuration, customization and deployment of CA Clarity™ solutions.
Patrick is currently a CA Clarity Consultant at Verizon Wireless, Novartis, and the CEO at The Chareg Group.
He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Liberia. He signs for the University of Liberia Choir in the US.
Rev. Dr. William B.G.K. Harris -Member of the Board
Rev. Dr. William B. G. K. Harris brings compassionate and ethical leadership to LEDI. Prior to joining LEDI, Rev. Dr. Harris Pastor Harris is serving as the Senior Pastor of the International Fellowship (ICF) church, one of the outstanding and successful Liberian owned churches with-in the United States. He is the Founder of ICF. He also served as Senior Reliability/Maintainability/Logistic Engineer. He also served a part-time professor at Beulah Heights Bible College in Atlanta, Georgia. He serves on many community organizations boards and has been awarded various citations.
He has written several religious, inspirational, and motivational books. His recent books are: The West African Traditional Gospel Documentary Book/DVD/CD Combo, A Health Resource Guide For West African Immigrants and African-Americans, My Kidney Story And Journey (2012).
He has a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Adersonville Theological Seminary. He also has a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Tuskegee University; and a MDiv degree from ITC-Atlanta University Center (Gammon Theological Seminary).