About Us

Staff Board of Directors

The Mission of the Liberian International Development Foundation (LIDF) is to promote an increased focus on both public and private sector development in Liberia and to contribute to the general development of the social and economic prosperity of the Liberian people.

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.

Staff

Etrenda C. Dillon, Ph.D., M.P.A.

Etrenda Dillon is the Executive Director of the Liberian International Development Foundation, Inc. Over the past 12 years, she has served in several capacities which include Director of Development for a non-profit that is recognized as a worldwide leader in experiential education programming, and respectively, Grants & Contracts Development Officer and Research Associate for two prestigious institutions of higher education. For over a decade, she has owned and operated a consulting company that specializes in fully establishing and stabilizing start-up for-profit and non-profit entities through capacity building programs. She has a broad knowledge base and experience in organizational development and management; program development, implementation and evaluation; and policy development and implementation.  Her areas of expertise include research and evaluation, and the implementation and management of effective capital acquisition programs. Overall, her experience includes creating a consistent and coherent infrastructure and providing operational services to maximize the fund-raising potential of entities served. 

 

Sarah Lissfelt

Sarah Lissfelt is the Program Manager at LIDF, working with the Executive Director in developing and managing the foundation’s initiatives. Prior to joining LIDF in 2007, Ms. Lissfelt’s background included over 16 years of experience in international development, finance and banking. Most recently, she spent three years at the Open Society Institute (OSI) working on microfinance initiatives. Prior to OSI, Ms. Lissfelt worked at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), where she was a Participations Officer in the Syndications department. She also spent six years at Bank of America in San Francisco and Chicago, where she was an Assistant Vice President managing syndicated loan portfolios.

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.

Ethelbert J.L. Cooper, Jr. - Chairman

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.

 

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.

 

Daubeny B. Cooper, III

Mr. Cooper is one of the original founders of LIDF and served for three years as its founding Executive Director. He is Vice-Chairman of the Monrovia, Liberia-based Liberia Institutional Development Initiative (LIDI) – an organization he was also instrumental in founding. Mr. Cooper’s professional experience over the thirteen years immediately prior to joining LIDF was primarily focused on providing investment banking, financial advisory, asset management and management consulting services to middle-market companies, philanthropic institutions and affluent individuals. Prior to collaborating with partners to form a company to provide these services, Potomac Capital, Mr. Cooper performed these roles at major firms such as Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner & Smith, NYLIFE Securities, BB&T Investments (the investments arm of Branch Banking & Trust –a top ten US bank) and Inverness Securities.

 

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, which 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).

 

Professor Dew Tuan Wleh Mayson

Ambassador Mayson is a veteran diplomat and civil servant who 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.