Monie R. Captan

Chief Executive Officer

Monie R. Captan has extensive experience in both the public and private sector. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Liberia, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, President of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Comium Telecommunications, Inc.

Mr. Captan is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the IBB Graduate School of International Relations, University of Liberia.

He earned a B.A. in Political Science (1985) and M.A. in International Relations (1987) from the University of San Diego in California, USA. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humanities (honoris causa) by the United Methodist University in Liberia (2017).

He is the author of a book entitled “Introduction to Liberian Government and Political System” (2016), and co-author of the “Liberia Constraints Analysis” (2013).

Prior to becoming CEO of MCA Liberia, he served as National Coordinator of Liberia’s Compact Development Project.
As CEO, Mr. Captan provides overall leadership for the Compact implementation.

Tshaka E. Dennis PE

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Tshaka E. Dennis, is a professional engineer with more than 34 years of engineering experience. Mr. Dennis has managed multidisciplinary teams involved in complex infrastructure and energy projects worldwide, including planning, design and supervision of highways, water supply and sanitation, airports, ports, and power plants.

He has held senior management positions with reputable consulting engineering firms in the USA, including Vice President of Stanley Consultants, Inc. and Sr. Associate with Energy Markets Group, Inc.

 Prior to joining MCA Liberia, he served as Senior Infrastructure Advisor for Anglophone West Africa for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Mr. Dennis is a graduate of the City Collage of New York, (Master of Engineering, Civil Engineering) and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (B.Sc., Civil Engineering).

As the DCEO, Mr. Dennis is the hands-on manager for the Compact, including engineering and technical activities.

James A.A. Pierre II

General Counsel

Counsellor James A. A. Pierre II practiced law in New York for six years before returning to Liberia in 2012. He worked at the Law Reform Commission and then served as Supreme Court law clerk to Associate Justice Philip A. Z. Banks III for several years.

Following his clerkship, he began to work at his family's law firm, Pierre, Tweh and Associates, while at the same time served as a consultant to the Ministry of Justice on enforcement and compliance issues within the forestry sector.

Counsellor Pierre is a graduate of Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. He also holds a Bachelors of Arts in journalism from the University of Georgia in Athens.

As the General Counsel, Cllr. Pierre provides oversight and guidance to all legal issues in the implementation of the Liberia Compact.

Lenda Russ, CPA, MST

Admin / Finance Director

Lenda Russ is a certified public accountant with 15+ years of experience in financial accounting, reporting, and analyses. Lenda has a wealth of experience, including big-four public accounting firms, Fortune 100 corporations, and other small-to-medium sized corporations. Lenda delights in streamlining processes and mentoring staff.

At National Grid, Lenda compiled year-end consolidated financials with top-sided adjustments, reconciled high-level roll-forward balances reported by the Income Tax Group, and designed a system to correctly book certain journals in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards.

At Ann Taylor, Lenda compiled monthly facilities management reports to enable informed business decisions and worked with functional partners to identify financial exposure through analysis, and reconciled results to expectations. Lenda also served as a Sales & Use Tax Specialist, where she streamlined the process to ensure that taxes were filed and paid in a timely manner.

At Wizards of the Coast, Lenda produced management and financial reports, completed annual budgets, developed and maintained reporting methods to track and analyze variances, and ensured that integrity and consistency existed between actual, budgets, and forecast. She also supported several business units and departments, such as Role-playing Games, Information Technology, and other administrative departments.

Lenda’s accounting skills and qualification, along with her strong analytical and organizational skills, make her a valuable addition to our organization. 

Victor L. Stewart

Roads Director

Victor L. Stewart has more than 37 years of construction experience on a broad range of building and civil projects in the USA, and most recently as Deputy Project Manager for the Camp Construction on Mt. Coffee Dam Project in Liberia. Asphalt and Concrete Pavements are his specific areas of expertise, but during the past 25 years has served in senior management positions and owned companies that focused on Infrastructure Development (Airports, Bridges, Roads, and Utilities. etc.).

He earned a BSc. in Civil Engineering – Construction Management from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

A paper he wrote during his senior year on “Risk-Sharing in the Tunneling Industry”, was published in the Journal of American Society of Civil Engineers in 1995; and he is a regular contributor of articles to the Summit Magazine (Black Pages – Ohio).

As Director of the Roads Project, Mr. Stewart leads the MCA-Liberia efforts to put in place a national road maintenance program as contained in the Liberia Compact.

M. Hady Sherif

Energy Director

M. Hady Sherif has over 10 years of experience coordinating a number of energy projects for several local and international organizations.

He was Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET), before joining MCA-Liberia. He coordinated local support to the Owner’s Engineer for the rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee Hydropower Project, and supervised local efforts to inspect prepayment meters and geo-reference of all LEC’s installations in Monrovia and its suburbs under the LEC`s Loss Reduction Program.

He coordinated Liberia’s first-ever prepayment electricity metering pilot project and participated in the establishment of the Prototype-Rural and Renewable Energy Agency, while serving as its Planning and Technology Officer.

Mr. Sherif holds a BSc in Economics, from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone and an MSc in Regional Science from the University of Liberia.

As the Director of Energy, Mr. Sherif leads MCA-Liberia technical and reform support for the energy sector of Liberia, including the standing up of the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC).

Roland S. Carey

Private Sector Development Director

Roland S. Carey has extensive experience in operations, consulting, and program and project management. Most recently, he served as Deputy Minister of Commerce for Industrial Services for the Republic of Liberia. As DMI, he led the execution of the National Industrialization Strategy including the development of industrial parks, special economic zones and the adoption of national commodities standards for Liberia.
He is a seasoned entrepreneur co-founding and leading a logistics, supply chain and transportation company in Liberia
He earned a Master in Business Administration from Baruch College and BA in Political Science from the University of Maryland College

Paul K. Kenndy

ESP Director

Paul K. Kennedy is a Public Health professional with over ten years of experience, managing Environmental and Public Health programs. Prior to joining the MCA-Liberia Team, Mr. Kennedy worked with two healthcare and developmental organizations, DC Chartered Health Plan and AmeriHealth Caritas in Washington, DC USA.

At both entities, he managed programs and projects valued over US$5 million dollars annually. He has served in various strategic leadership positions and played key role in building capacities and strengthening systems of individuals and organizations worldwide.

He also recently served as an Assistant Professor, teaching Health Science Courses, at Howard University College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences in Washington, DC. Mr. Kennedy obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Degree with an emphasis in Health Management from Howard University in Washington, DC USA and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Walden University in Baltimore, MD USA.

As the Director of Environmental and Social Protection, Mr. Kennedy leads the MCA-Liberia partners` engagement and support to address environmental issues related to the Liberia Compact implementation.

Poliyon Alphonsus Zeon

Communications & Outreach Director

Poliyon Alphonsus Zeon has more than 15 years of experience in mainstream media practice, development and project management.

He has served as Deputy Project Lead for The Carter Center Access to Information programme in Liberia. He helped popularize the Freedom of Information Law and provided technical assistance to government and civil society for proactive disclosure, responding to information request and demanding information respectively and using it to improve lives.

Mr. Zeon worked for the BBC with assignment at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he communicated the proceedings of the Special Court for Sierra Leone to West Africa and globally through a range of mechanisms. He holds a BA in Mass Communications and an LLB in Law from the University of Liberia and lectured there in Media Law and Ethics.

As Director of Communications & Outreach, he leads the MCA-Liberia public engagements and consultations, communicating a realistic understanding of the Compact and its implementation progress as well as fostering relationships with diverse partners, including government, civil society, media, and communities. 

Nicholas Dikenah

Monitoring & Evaluation Director

Nicholas Dikenah is a top-notched Monitoring & Evaluation and Development Assistance Specialist with over 10 years of work experience in project management, implementation and monitoring oversight.

He has professional experience working on poverty-reduction related initiatives with the United Nations systems, International/national non-governmental institutions, national and local governments. He holds a four-year Certificate in Logic and Humanities, Bachelors in Economics, and is a candidate for Masters at the University Of Liberia Graduate School Of Regional Science.

Added to his portfolio are an array of certificates in statistics, poverty evaluation and measurement, project monitoring & evaluation, etc. from international and local trainings. He served as M&E Lead and M&E Specialist during the Compact Development phase (2013 – 2016) and was member of the Liberian Government delegation that negotiated the Liberia Compact with the US Government acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in 2015.

As Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for MCA-Liberia, Mr. Dikenah leads the tracking of project implementation evidence based results against the indicators of the Liberia Compact.