Board Chair

Clara Doe Mvogo is the former Mayor of Monrovia.

During the Ebola Virus Disease crisis, Ms. Doe Mvogo served as Co-Chair for the Montserrado County Incident Management System for Ebola and as Chair of the Medical Waste Management System for Ebola Response Committee. From 2007-2012, she served as the National Technical Coordinator of the West Africa Quality Programme for ECOWAS and UEMOA, implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). In that position, she established the National Standards Laboratory of Liberia for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. She has also worked as a consultant on multiple studies on gender issues.

Ms. Doe Mvogo is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Sinkor, Liberia, and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the AME University in Liberia. Ms. Doe Mvogo was the keynote speaker at the 2015 European Development Days Pre-Opening Program. She has also chaired several high-level panels at major conferences, such as the 7th Africities Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York, and the 2016 World Bank meeting for Least Developed Countries in Dublin, Ireland.

Ms. Doe Mvogo holds a Master of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry and is a registered Medical Technologist.

Co-Founder & Board Member

William Smith is the Co-Founder & Board Member of LEAD Monrovia Football Academy. Inspired by his participation in President George Weah’s 2013 Liberian Peace & Reconciliation football match, Smith co-founded LEAD MFA in 2015 to establish the first school in Liberia to combine high-quality education with elite football training. Under Smith’s direction, LEAD MFA’s rigorous leadership development model has been recognized by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as an “exciting, innovative approach to academic and leadership training that must be watched.”

In addition to his board role at LEAD MFA, Smith is the Founder & Board member of LEAD MFA’s primary partner organization, LEAD Edu. Beyond his work with the LEAD family, Smith manages Charter Oak Advisory, a social impact advisory firm that supports global leaders on their social impact journeys. He holds an MSc in African Studies from Oxford University, BA in Government and French from the College of William & Mary, and a degree in social entrepreneurship from Santa Clara University. He is one of 35 members of the Barça Foundation and UNICEF’s Working Group on Sport for Development.

Board Member

Graham Albert was a student-athlete at the College of William & Mary from 1999-2003. He enjoyed both team and individual success at the highest level of American college soccer, earning Division 1 Scholar All-American honors his senior year. In addition to his background as a player, Albert has always been passionate about soccer coaching, development, education, and administration. His father, Al Albert, is a hall-of-fame college soccer coach and former President of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Albert lives and works in New York City as a financial analyst at MP Securitized Credit Partners, an investment fund specializing in mortgage bonds. He wants to leverage his connections and professional experience to help MFA leadership achieve their ambitious goals on and off the field.

Board Member

Stephen Glass is the Director of Resort Real Estate for Thor Urbana, a real estate development firm based in Mexico City.

Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, Glass has worked in a variety of institutions around the world. After finishing at Penn, Glass consulted on a report for the United Nations Development Programme that focused on building technological infrastructure in developing countries. He then spent four years in the Business Development Group of Bessemer Trust, where he was the firm’s lead analyst for fundraising activities.

Glass received his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2010, where he was awarded the Feldberg Fellowship, the school’s most prestigious full-tuition scholarship. While at Columbia, he was elected Co-President of the Real Estate Association and was an International Development Club project member for Liberia Housing Finance Company, an institution specializing in providing loans for housing in Liberia.

After graduating from Columbia, Glass consulted on Playa Grande, a resort development project in the Dominican Republic, and later served as the Director of Investor Relations at Penn Square Real Estate Group, where he managed investor relations and capital raising efforts for real estate private equity funds. He later served as Chief Operating Officer at MONIQUE PÉAN, an award-winning sustainable fine jewelry company.

Board Member

Saycon Sengbloh is an award-winning actress whose riveting performance as Wife Number One in Eclipsed at The Public Theater earned her an Obie Award and Drama Desk Award, as well as a Tony Award nomination on the Broadway stage. Eclipsed is a critically acclaimed play that was the first in Broadway history to feature a story on Liberian women during the civil war.

Sengbloh will be seen as Nora in the upcoming feature film Double Play by Ernest Dickerson. She has also starred in the Broadway productions of Holler If Ya Hear Me, Motown the Musical, Fela!, Wished, Aida, The Color Purple, Hair, and the nation tour of Rent. Sengbloh originated the roles of Rita Marlet in Marley at Baltimore Center Stage and Toyia in Katori Hall's Hurt Village (NYC). Television/film credits include Good Wife (CBS) and The Night Of (HBO), American Gangster (Universal Pictures) and Funny Valentine (BET Starz).

Sengbloh attended Agnes Scott College and is a longtime advocate for education, girls, and underprivileged children in Liberia. She is eager to use her platform as a successful actress/artist to support the Academy and serve as a role model for our female student-athletes.

Board Member

Musa Shannon is a former member of the Liberian national team who starred in Division 1 college soccer at Robert Morris University before playing professionally in the MLS, Portugal, and China. Since 2010, Shannon has served as Vice-President of the Liberia Football Association. He also runs one of the most popular beach resorts in Liberia, Nana's Beach Resort, located in Robertsport City.

Shannon's background as a student-athlete created the foundation for his belief in the ability of sport and education to transform the lives of young people – especially in his country, Liberia, where a quality education is a rare commodity. As a former footballer and current football administrator, Shannon is keen to change the definition of success for athletically gifted boys and girls in Liberia. He is excited to help bring the Academy from the start-up phase to sustainability.

Board Member

Richard Fahey served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia during the 1960s. He then returned to the United States for graduate school, earning his JD from Northwestern University. He subsequently specialized in Environmental, Energy, and Natural Resources law for more than 35 years. In 2010, he retired from one career and started another, attending Harvard University as an Advanced Leadership Fellow. That experience gave rise to a new organization called the Liberian Energy Network (LEN), which distributes solar lights to businesses, schools, and families in Monrovia. As the Founder and CEO of LEN, Fahey travels periodically to Monrovia to ensure LEN continues its move to scale. Fahey has already devoted a large amount of time to MFA, and his experience working in Monrovia will certainly provide important insights as MFA moves forward.

Board Member

Medina Wesseh has over 35 years of experience in journalism/communications and legal, political, and international relations. She constructs and supports socio-political systems in Africa through innovative contributions toward economic development and regional cooperation for peace, security, and the rule of law.

From 2017 to 2022, Mrs. Wesseh served as Secretary General for the Mano River Union (MRU) Secretariat. During her tenure, she helped transform the organization through strategic planning and her experience in managing complex and fragile systems across West Africa. She is committed to state-to-state collaboration, effective communication, building and maintaining government relationships, and, most importantly, gender equity. Before working at the MRU, she worked as Presidential Envoy on Special Assignments from 2006 to 2016 during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She also served from 2006 to 2009 as Director General of the Cabinet/Executive Assitant to the President's Cabinet Rank.

From 1980 to 2005, Mrs. Wesseh worked in many positions across Africa, including Editor for the Liberia News Network in Liberia, Media Monitoring Expert for the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation in Ghana, and Project Coordinator of the West Africa Democracy Radio Project by Open Society Initiative of West Africa in Senegal. Additionally, she worked as Consultant/Community Development Officer for UNIFEM/UNHCR to design a program aligned with the United Nations system and practices to assist internally displaced women and refugees in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

Mrs. Wesseh has an LLB in Law from the University of Liberia, a graduate diploma in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana, and a certificate from the Executive Leadership Program for Women Waging Peace and Inclusive Security from the John F. Kennedy School of Governance at Harvard University. She is well-versed in sustainable development issues and is dedicated to improving people's global well-being in a secure, safe, and peaceful environment.

Board Member

Patrick Burrowes is one of Liberia’s leading historians.

In 2022, he delivered the Black History Month address at the Library of Congress and appeared on Book Breaks, the interview series sponsored by the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History. The Smithsonian magazine and the Washington Post featured stories on his recovery of a document relating to Liberia’s founding that had been missing for almost a century.

Among other positions, Burrowes served as the Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Professor at Marshall University. His books include Between the Kola Forest and the Salty Sea: A History of the Liberian People to 1800 and From Virginia Slave to African Statesman: Hilary Teage (1805–1853). His research has received awards from the Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.