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. 

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.

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.