The Foundation For West Africa Board Of Directors

		Topher Hamblett is FWA’s founder and president. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in eastern Sierra Leone (1985-87), and has two decades of experience in advocacy, project management, and fundraising for organizations in the U.S. and West Africa. From 1988-2004 he worked for Save The Bay, Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island, serving as Director of Advocacy for seven years. Topher serves on the boards of the International Institute of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island Public Radio. He has also served on the governing board of Common Cause-Rhode Island.

		M. Lamin Sarr serves as Vice-President and Secretary. Lamin earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University. He conducted his post-graduate studies at the Wood Holes Oceanographic Institution, and the School for Marine Studies, College of Fisheries and Marine Sciences at the University of Washington. He is founder and President of the Sarr Consulting Group, LLC, whose clients have included the United Nations, the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the State of Rhode Island and The International Institute of Rhode Island, where he also worked as Deputy Executive Director. Lamin is the founder of the African Alliance of Rhode Island, and deeply committed to strengthening the connections between the people of Africa and the United States.

		Barbara Badio serves as FWA Treasurer. She was raised in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and is a teacher at Nathanael Greene Middle School in Providence, RI. Barbara has earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education. She earned a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Leadership/Curriculum and Instruction from Cambridge College, Masschusetts. She has served as Vice-President of the Sierra Leone Descendants Association of RI and volunteers for the Liberian Community Association of RI. Barbara brings to FWA her experience in, and a passion for, educating children.

		Martha Neuman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, working as an agricultural extension agent in Port Loko District. She now leads and manages complex, multi-disciplinary natural resource planning and implementation projects with the goal creating sustainable communities and a healthy environment. Martha is senior staff for Washington State’s Puget Sound Partnership. She earned a M.S. from University of Wisconsin, Madison and a B.A. in Government (International Relations focus) from California State University, Sacramento. She brings project management, strategic planning, and collaborative decision-making skills to the board.
Right: woman in Kabala, Sierra Leone