H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as the president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, becoming the first elected female head of state in Africa. During her time as president, Mdm. Sirleaf advocated for freedom, justice, and peace. In 2011, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in fighting for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.

Betsy Williams is the Founder and Co-Chair of Emerging Public Leaders. She is also co-founder of the President’s Young Professionals Program in Liberia and currently serves as PYPP International Advisory Board Chair and on the PYPP Liberia Board of Directors. Williams launched PYPP with H.E. former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Melissa Bukuru is the Principal for Financial Inclusion and Resilience at Ownership Works, a new nonprofit seeking to expand employee ownership of companies and build equitable wealth for all. Previously she was a Director at Lion’s Head Global Partners, an Investment Bank operating across frontier and emerging markets globally.

Todd Johnson is Co-founder and Managing Partner of Earlylands Advisory and has spent over 25 years working at the intersection of risk, strategy, and corporate affairs, with a focus on emerging and frontier markets. Prior to Earlylands, Todd was the global Risk Leader for Standard Industries, a privately held company with holdings that include some of the world’s largest manufacturers of building solutions and performance materials.

T. Nelson Williams, II is the Chief Administrative Officer at Conex Oil and Gas Holdings and CEO of the Conex Foundation. He possesses 20+ years of experience in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. These include Bank of America, SunTrust Bank, American Express, Ticketmaster, First Investors Corporation, and Bass Hotels International. T. Nelson previously served as Managing Director at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), and Vice President at Bank of America.

Abigail Burgesson is an Independent Development Practitioner and Philanthropy Adviser and brings over 25 years of experience as an International Development Practitioner and Women’s Rights Advocate. She has worked extensively within the non-profit sector in Ghana with organizations across Africa and internationally.

Mr.Lubembe brings an exceptional combination of experience, service, and commitment to guide EPL into its next chapter. An EPL Global Board member since 2023, Emmanuel has helped steer EPL through an exciting period of growth - supporting and launching new country programs in Sierra Leone and Malawi, where he also serves on the Board of Emerging Public Leaders. As Chair of the EPL Global Board Governance Committee, Mr. Lubembe has championed greater accountability and transparency across the organization, strengthening the integrity of EPL’s reporting and communications both internally and with partners.  He first joined the EPL Ecosystem as Chair of the Steering Committee for the Public Service Emerging Leaders Fellowship (PSELF) in Kenya.

Carlos Alegria, CPA, MBA is a finance, accounting, and business development executive, with more than fifteen years of experience supporting business development, helping individuals and organizations thrive. He currently serves as Director at BDO USA.

Aissatou Bah is a Senior Program Officer (Gender Norms Learning Agenda, GNLA) at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The GNLA team is tasked with sourcing learning and evidence to support leveraging entertainment media and cultural influence to effect societal-wide changes/shifts in norms that impact health, economic, and safety outcomes for adolescent girls and young women. Based out of Nigeria, she anchors the team’s grantmaking and strategy in Africa.

Rose Wachuka Macharia is the Chief of Staff, Office of the Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya.  The  Oxford-trained policy expert and former diplomat has served in senior government positions for more than 10 years.

Dr. Hervé LADO is the Head of the Africa Hub of the UN Global Compact, based in Abuja, Nigeria. He coordinates the Global Compact’s Africa Networks in ten countries with offices and four expansion countries that support the private sector engagement for the Sustainable Development Goals.