CAROL BECKWITH, Director: London, England

Born in the United States and educated at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts in painting and photography. Winner of a traveling fellowship, she studied fine arts extensively in Japan and New Guinea. In 1974 she decided to make Africa her working base so that she could live within the cultures that inspired her photographs and paintings. For two years, she and the Maasai writer, Telipit Ole Saitoti, lived with the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. In 1980, her first book, Maasai was published in three languages and four countries. It won the prestigious Annisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations and was a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Her second book, Nomads of Niger with Marion van Offelen, 1983, was based on three years of research during which she raveled with the Wodaabe nomads and learned their language. Her television film based on this experience, Way of the Wodaabe, was broadcast in 1988 by National Geographic.>

In 1985, Carol and Angela Fisher embarked upon a study of the peoples and cultures of the Horn of Africa. Published as African Ark in 1991, the book received the Institute of Human Origins acclaimed prize, The Golden Hand of Lucy, and the Annisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations. During this period, Carol and Angela originated and associate-produced the documentary film The Painter and the Fighter on the Surma peoples of Ethiopia. In 1990, Carol was consultant to the ten part documentary series Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World and more recently co-directed segments for the BBC-1 natural history series, The Human Animal with Desmond Morris.

Carol Beckwith exhibits her photographs internationally and lectures widely at prestigious venues such as The American Museum of Natural History and The Explorer’s Club in New York, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Royal Geographical Society in London. Her magazine credits include cover stories in National Geographic, Natural History, African Arts, The Observer Magazine, and major features in Time, Life, Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle.

Recently, Carol completed a ten-year project with Angela Fisher, documenting the rites of passage from birth to death of peoples across the African continent. This landmark work, African Ceremonies, published as a two-volume set in November 1999, won the Award for Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers and Artists; The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award from the Royal Geographical Society of London; The Biarritz Photography Festival Award in France; and the annual New York Book Show’s “First Place in Photographic Design”. Carol with Angela celebrated the publication of their book with a worldwide lecture tour in the United States, Europe and Africa; and a major photographic exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York.

BONNIE BROWN, Director: Washington, D.C. U.S.A.

Specialist in community development and a lawyer. From 1996 to 2001, she served as Executive Director of the Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson, North Carolina, a community center that provides health, human and educational services. During the years 1982 to 1995 she worked in a number of community development, human rights and related capacities in Africa. These included administering US Human Rights and Self Help Grants in South Africa during the mid-eighties and administering a small development fund devoted to primary health, sanitation and micro-enterprise development in Ghana during 1992-95. In 1995 she received the State Department Award for Volunteerism in Africa. Mrs. Brown also worked as a senior attorney at the Federal Communications Commission and US Department of State. She is a trustee of the Ghana Historic Conservation Trust.

AMBASSADOR KENNETH LEE BROWN, Director: Washington, D.C. U.S.A.

Became the President of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training in May 2001.  As a career Foreign Service Officer from 196l to 1995, he served at the American Embassy in Brussels and sic posts in Africa. The latter included ambassador-ships in Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.  At the Department of State he held the positions of Deputy Director of UN Political Affairs, Associate Spokesman, Director of Central African Affairs, and Deputy Assistant of State for Africa, among others.  After leaving the Foreign Service, Ambassador Brown was Director of the Dean Rusk Program in International Studies at Davidson College from 1995 to 2001, He has a BA in International Relations from Pomona College, a MA in International Relations from Yale University, a MA in Political Science from NYU and a PH.D. in Political Sociology from Cape Coast University in Ghana.  He serves on the boards of the Ghana Historic Conservation Trust and the Global Alliance fro Women's Health.

JULIUS WAYNE DUDLEY, PhD. Director: Boston, MA U.S.A.

Dr. Dudley is the President and Founder of the Collaborative Education With South Africans (CEWSA). He has served as Consultant and Vice-President, Phelps-Stokes Fund, New York; Coordinator of the Secondary Education Program and the African American Studies Program at Salem State College, Salem, MA; Coordinator of the Secondary Education Program, Fitchburg State College, Fitchburg, MA; Founding Director, Office of Minority Student Affairs, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, MA; Assistant Dean (Part-time), College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA; Director, History Program, Morris Brown College, Atlanta, GA; and Founding Director, African-American Studies Program, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

Dr. Dudley’s teaching experiences include, Professor Emeritus in History, Salem State College, Salem, MA; Tenured Professor, U.S. History and Constitutional Government, African American History, and World Civilizations, Salem College, MA; Tenured Professor at Salem State College, Fitchburg State College, and the University of South Florida. In addition, Dr. Dudley held the positions of Assistant Professor at Morris Brown College, and the University of South Florida. Dr. Dudley was also an Instructor of Social and Cultural History of America at the University of Dayton, Dayton OH; and a Teacher in the Atlanta, Georgia Public School System.

Dr. Dudley held Adjunct Teaching Positions at Emerson College, Boston, MA; Suffolk University, Boston, MA; Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA; University of Massachusetts Lowell, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA; Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL; and Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA.

Dr. Dudley obtained a CSS, in Administration and Management and a M.Ed., Administration Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University; a Ph.D., University of Cincinnati; a M.A. in American and European History, Clark Atlanta University; and a B.A., in Social Studies, Morris Brown College.

Other educational training includes Certification in American Military History, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY; Certification in African and African American Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; and Certification in early childhood education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Dr. Dudley resides in Boston, MA and Atlanta, GA

ANGELA FISHER, Director: London, England

Born and educated in Australia. She received a degree in Social Science from Adelaide University. After working with Aborigines in Australia, Angela move to Kenya in 1970. Inspired by the beauty of the Maasai nomads, she became involved in a study of traditional African peoples with a special interest in their jewelry and body decoration. Fourteen years of fieldwork, including 28,000 miles of travel across the continent, resulted in the l984 publication of the internationally-acclaimed Africa Adorned, a photographic record of pan-African jewels and body decoration. It was a Book-of-the-Month Club Selection and the subject of a National Geographic thirty-four page story.

Angela’s travels and interest in traditional ceremonies and body decoration have taken her from Africa to Yemen, India, Afghanistan, Nepal and Ladakh. In each country she recorded the customs of the people she encountered an collected handcrafted beads. Her designed jewels from this collection, together with her photographs of traditional peoples, have been extensively exhibited throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Africa.

In 1985, Angela Fisher began the research for African Ark, a study of the cultures of the Horn of Africa, in partnership with Carol Beckwith. Angela and Carol have traveled in Africa separately and together for some twenty years. They have lived among native peoples, sharing their daily lives, and recording with their cameras the rich panoply of their ceremonies -- from the naming of babies and the courtship of young adults to communal rites of the seasons, displays of royal power and wealth, and practices evoked to healing, worship, and death. No artists of any era have captured so many images of authentic and ancient ritual practices.

Angela completed a ten-year project with Carol, documenting the rites of passages from birth to death of peoples across the African continent. Recognition of the vital role Carol and Angela have played in recording traditional ceremonies came to them in 1999 on publication of their monument, two-volume book, AFRICAN CEREMONIES, containing 850 of their color photographs. Among much praise and excellent reviews, they won The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award from the Royal Geographical Society of London; The Biarritz Photography Festival Award in France; the annual New York Book Show’s “First Place in Photographic Design”; and received the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers and Artists. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a special envoy to convey the honor. Angela celebrated the publication of their book with a worldwide lecture tour in the United States, Europe and Africa; and a major photographic exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York.

ABLADE GLOVER, Director: Accra, Ghana

Served as Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Art Education and Dean of the College of Art at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He left University service on retirement on October 1st 1994 to paint full time.

He was educated at the Kumasi College of Technology; in the U.K. at the Central School of Art and Design and the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne; and finally in the United States at Kent State University and Ohio State.

Ablade Glover has exhibited widely. In Ghana, he has exhibited many times at the LOOM, ART Center, USIS, and the British Council, Accra. In Africa he has exhibited in Lagos (National Theater); Harare (National Gallery of Zimbabwe); Abijian (Gallery GO and Gallery Pluriel); Contonou (French Cultural Center); Freetown (Hotel Mami Yoko). He has also exhibited in London (Commonwealth Institute, Africa Center, and the October Gallery; in Bonn (at the IFA Gallery); in Geneva (at the VIZ Art Gallery and the World Intellectual Property Organization); in New York (at Ghana Embassy and Harlem Studio Museum); and in Washington D.C. (at the World Bank Offices).

Ablade Glover is represented in major private and public collections around the World. These include: The Imperial Palace Collection of Prince and Princess Takamado of Japan; Guy Pas Collection in Geneva, Switzerland. UNESCO Head-quarters in Paris, France: African-American Institute (A.A.I.) in New York; the O’Hare International Airport in Chicago (Mural); the Commonwealth Foundation in London, to mention a few.

Ablade Glover’s significant contribution to the development of contemporary Art in Africa is the founding and the building of an modern art gallery, The Artists Alliance Gallery, in Accra. He recently was awarded the DISTINGUISHED AFGRAD ALUMNI AWARD by the Africa-American Institute of the United States. He is also a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London.

HARRIET L. LANCASTER, Vice President/Secretary: Naples, FL U.S.A

Has nearly thirty years of experience based on extensive work in human services, third world development, and program development in a variety of settings, and include skills in budgeting, management policy, and adult education, and training utilizing the MBTI Personality Type indicator. As a Senior Manager with the U.S. Federal Government she has served as the U.S. Peace Corps Country Director Ghana, West Africa; Executive Director, Bureau of Finance and Management Policy, U.S. Department of State; Associate Dean, Foreign Service Institute, School of Professional Studies, U.S. Department of State; and Director, Office of Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Peace Corps.

Harriet Lancaster has also served as Administrator, Department of Citizen Services, Howard County, Maryland; Trainer, Middle Atlantic Training and Consultation, Inc. Senior Staff Consultant, Volt Information Sciences, Inc. (Consultant on Model Cities contracts); Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Community Services, Office of the Mayor-Commissioner, District of Columbia Government; Project Manager, Neighborhood Services Program, Office of the Secretary, Center for Community Planning, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW); Management Intern, Welfare Administration (DHEW), Washington, D.C.; Special Projects Coordinator, Urban League of Westchester, White Plains, New York; Resource Person, (Community Organizer for Head Start Program) Child Development Group of Mississippi, Marshall County, Mississippi; Community Organization Worker, Mobilization for Youth New York, N.Y.; and Project Coordinator, Office of Educational Resources University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

Harriet Lancaster received her B.A. in Political Science (Cum Laude), University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA.; M.A. Social Work (Honors Degree), Columbia University New York, N.Y.; and has done Doctoral Studies, in Economics and Social Welfare Policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is a Licensed Certified Social Worker (MD), LCSW, and Academy of Certified Social Workers (National), ACSW. Mrs. Lancaster is a MBTI Personality Type Indicators, MBTI trainer, qualified by the Association for Psychological Type. Qualified experiential trainer; Organizational Development Certificate from MATC; Federal Executive Institute, Class 150, 1988; Diversity Training Workshop; OD Network, Managing Diversity in the Workplace, Government Contracting, Total Quality Management(TQM), Budget Execution, etc.>

Harriet Lancaster’s civic experience includes, Member of the Board, Opportunity Associates, America (supports Rumanian trainers group for NGOS), Member, American Society for Training and Development; Member, former board member and volunteer trainer, Middle Atlantic Training and Consulting Group; Chair, NASW/IFSW; World Assembly Steering Committee, 1992; past Chair and member of NASW International Committee; Women’s Center of Columbia, etc. Recent in Florida--Unitarian Society of Greater Naples, social action and welcoming committees. Active member, Collier County NAACP; American Association of University Women’s social justice committee. Volunteer work with the Collier County Coalition on Hunger and Homelessness. Member, Art League of Bonita Springs.

Harriet Lancaster has received numerous outstanding annual performance awards; the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award; Nomination as one of the most influential individuals on development in Ghana in the foreign assistance category of the country’s millennium awards program.

JAMES B. LANCASTER, JR., Founder and President: Naples, FL U.S.A.

Retired U.S. Federal Government Senior Executive Manager and a member of the elite Senior Executive Service (SES) with nearly thirty years of experience in various federal agencies. He was the Associate Director for Administration, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM); Senior International Affairs Officer and Foreign Service Reserve Officer U.S. Department of State, Agency for International Development (USAID); Assistant Director for Administration and Finance. ACTION/ U.S. Peace Corps; Director, Office of Management Systems U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration; Senior Management Analyst, Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Senior Budget Analyst House Budget Committee, U.S. Congress.

Mr. Lancaster is the President of the African Literacy, Art and Development Association, Inc. Naples, Florida. His private sector experiences includes the positions of Senior Economist, Hammer, Siler, George, Associates, Industrial and Commercial Economic Consultants; Senior Economist, Operations Research Inc. (ORI); Manpower Development Specialist, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Paris, France and, The State Planning Organization, Office of the Prime Minister, Ankara, Turkey; Consultant/Economist, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, International Division, Baltimore, Maryland; and International Consultant, Management and Business Development, Ghana, West Africa.

Mr. Lancaster received his B.A. degree in Economics with a Minor in Business Administration, Howard University, Washington, D.C.; a Masters of Public and International Affairs (MPIA)in Socio-Economic Development, University of Pittsburgh; and has done doctoral studies in Economics and Public Finance, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Doctoral Studies, International Affairs, The American University, Washington, D.C. He has received advanced training in Strategies for Management Improvement, U.S. Federal Executive Institute (FEI), Charlottesville, Virginia; Senior Federal Executive Training, The Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C.; Federal Executive Development,(FEI) Manpower Planning and Educational Development, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), University of Paris, France; and Training for Human Resources Development Specialists, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Frederick Ebert Foundation Training Center, Bergneustadt, Germany.

Mr. Lancaster has traveled to forty states in the United States, lived in Africa for seven years, and traveled to more than eighty countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, The Middle East, The Caribbean, and North America.

JOHN MYLES, Treasurer: Naples, FL U.S.A

Private Client Advisor Associate and a Lead Financial Relationship Manager for very high net worth clients with Sun Trust Bank of Naples, Florida. John was born in Washington, D.C., and in 1965 graduated with a BA degree in Economics from Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. After being honorably discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1969, John entered the banking field and over the past 30 years has earned several specialized banking certificates from the American Institute of Banking. John worked 10 years for the First American Bank of Virginia, Arlington, Virginia, where he managed various size branches including the Main Branch. He also worked 10 years as Branch Coordinator for Florida National Bank, Lakeland, Florida, and was responsible for the profitability of the branches.

John has been a past member of the Junior Achievement of Arlington Virginia, the Optimist Club of Arlington, Virginia, and The Rotary Club of Lakeland, Florida.

Father GODFREY NZAMUJO, O.P., Director: Porto Novo, Benin

Born in Kano, Nigeria in 1950. He obtained his B.A. in Modern Philosophy and Mathematics, his M.A. in Theology (Creation-Centered/Evolution Option) and his PH.D. in Economic Philosophy. He further obtained a Higher Diploma in Systems Engineering as well as a M.S. in Electrical Engineering at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, and a PH.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Service from the University of California at Irvine. He is currently a PH.D. Candidate in Management Science at the International Institute for Advanced Studies.

Father Nzamujo has been the Director of the Songhai Centre, Benin since 1984. He has also been a Research Fellow/Professor at the University of California, Irvine, Associate Pastor, St Nicholas Catholic Church, Laguna Hills, California, and Assist Professor of Engineering at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California.

His expertise in Engineering includes: electro-optical devices, digital systems-micro-electronics, micro-computer systems, discrete Mathematics and Symbolic Logic and digital image processing.

His expertise in Biological Sciences includes: ecology and microbiology, microbiology and soil fertilization, natural systems and energy pathway in water sub-systems, and mycology and its usefulness in African ecosystems - economic perspectives, Mushroom-laboratory culture and production.

His expertise in Development includes: integrated systems and tropical farming systems- their socio-economic perspectives and institutional economics-social engineering in post colonial Africa. Father Nzamujo expertise in Spirituality include its relevance in psychological and social development

His present research interests include: sustainable agriculture in the tropics and the corresponding institutional framework, renewable energy-biogas and interest in rural energy development, microbiology and soil fertilization-Bacillus Lateresporus and Rhyzobia-moisture, temperature; microbiological environment and nutritive elements in integrated soil fertility management and, energy partway in water bodies-mining nutrient-energy sinks in urban and peri urban waste water bodies.

Father Nzamujo is the recipient of many honors and awards including membership of the U.N. Independent Commission on “Africa and the Challenges for the Third Millennium”, the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger (co-winner with President Rawlings of Ghana), Jesuit Honors Award and, the Engineering Honors Award (California).

BILLY OMABEGHO, Director: Lagos, Nigeria

Born in Warri, Nigeria in 1944. He studied sculpture with renowned American artists at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He graduated in 1967 with a BFA. 1968 he received his Masters Degree from New York University. Mr. Omabegho taught at various universities in the New York area and exhibited his works in galleries and museums.

In the United States, his works include a twenty-one foot Corten Steel sculpture in front of the Johnson Wax Company - Council House in Racine, Wisconsin. He completed a twenty-four foot aluminum/stainless steel sculpture for the new Nigerian House on 44th Street and Second Avenue in New York City. His works are also in private collection in USA.

In Nigeria, Mr. Omabegho was commissioned to design and execute the following large-scale abstract sculptures in stainless steel and bronze: “Convergence” State House, Marina Lagos, 1976; “Memorial to Mohammed”, Benin City 1977; “Manila” symbol for Lagos International Trade Fair 1978; “Communication” NET Building Marina, 1979; and “Zuma” -large sculpture- commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Works for Nigeria House, New York.

The modernistic steel sculptures of Billy Omabegho incorporate the essence of classic Nigeria art forms in a universal contemporary idiom. His range of creativity also extends to functional design in jewelry and furniture shown in the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York City, the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C and featured in Vogue and House Beautiful Magazines.

Mr.Omabegho’s dimension as an artist and a creator has perhaps been described best by the late Dean of Contemporary African American artists, Romare Bearden who stated: “In viewing these handsome works, we must not see them just literally; rather it is informative to realize they are a synthesis of what is valid in modern art, together with what is important for Billy Omabegho in the culture of his homeland. Omabegho in that connection, brings new life and energy to the basic forms and processes of his world, so he returns with new, or perhaps better, with unique perceptions of fundamental African values. Because of this, I believe Omabegho walks in a spiritual kinship with the ancient masters of Ife and Benin.

AMBASSADOR JOHNNY YOUNG, Director: Kensington, MD. U.S.A.

Retired from the Foreign Service in 2005. Ambassador Young served as U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, Bahrain, the Republic of Togo, and the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Johnny Young began his Foreign Service career in 1967 as a Budget and Fiscal Officer in Antananarivo, Madagascar followed by assignments in 1970 and 1972 as supervisory General Services Officer in Conakry, Guinea and Nairobi, Kenya; respectively. In 1974, he was transferred to Doha, Qatar to provide administrative support to the newly expanded American embassy and the first America ambassador to that country. While in Qatar, Ambassador Young served as Administrative Officer and Charge d' Affairs, a.i. After Qatar, he was assigned to Bridgetown, Barbados as Administrative Counselor.

In 1979, Ambassador Young came to Washington, DC as Career Development Officer in the Bureau of Personnel. This was followed by service as Executive Director for the Office of the Inspector General in 1981. Ambassador Young departed Washington in 1983 to be Administrative Counselor in Amman, Jordan; and in 1985 served at The Hague, Netherlands. In 1988, he was selected for assignment to the Senior Seminar.