|  A2A has been a dream of Foundation Directors
Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Ethelbert J.L.
Cooper since their days as college students
at Yale University. They made their dream
a reality in early 2007 when the Foundation
was formally established. Together with
fellow Director Christine Allocca, they
achieved official 503(c) status for A2A in early 2008.
The Board of Directors determines the
path of A2A, according to its vision
for the Foundation, and is charged with
making the final decisions about the foundation,
including all financial grant decisions.
Members of the Board of Advisors will be
instrumental in providing creative direction,
assisting with all manner of fundraising
and publicly endorsing A2A. Brief biographies
for each member of the Board of Directors
and the Board of Advisors are listed below.
Board of Directors
Henry Louis Gates,
Jr.:
Professor Gates is Director of the W.E.B.
Du Bois Institute for African and African
American Research at Harvard University
and Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford African
American Studies Center. He is co-editor
with K. Anthony Appiah of Africana: The
Encyclopedia of the African and African
American Experience (1999). Oxford University
Press published an expanded five-volume
edition of the encyclopedia in 2005. His
most recent book, “Finding Oprah’s Roots,”
is a meditation on genetics, genealogy,
and race.
In 2006, Gates wrote and produced the
PBS documentary called “African American
Lives,” the first documentary series to
employ genealogy and science to provide
an understanding of African American history.
His next documentary “Oprah’s Roots,” a
one-hour documentary on the genealogical
and genetic heritage of Oprah Winfrey, was
released in February, 2007. Professor Gates’
latest documentary “African American Lives
2” aired in February 2008.
Ethelbert J.L. Cooper:
Mr. Cooper is a founder and major shareholder
of a number of energy related companies,
the flagship of which is, a London-listed,
pan-African oil and gas company that continues
to acquire African oil and gas. Mr. Cooper,
an international entrepreneur, has founded
the Liberian International Development Foundation
and was a co-founder of A2A. Mr. Cooper is the major donor
to work of A2A so far.
Christine B. Allocca:
Ms. Allocca’s professional experience spans
marketing and development at Africare, a
leading non-governmental organization (NGO)
specializing in charitable aid to Africa,
project management at the Smithsonian in
scientific and cultural heritage work, and
project management in the technology sector.
Ms. Allocca lived in Somalia, in the horn
of Africa, during early childhood and her
maternal family is from the Democratic Republic
of Congo. She runs the daily operations
of the foundation.
Board of Advisors
Dr. Arese Carrington:
Dr. Carrington is an International Public
Health consultant and Vice President of
Africana Consultants. She is a graduate
of the University of Ibadan Medical School
in her native Nigeria and the Harvard School
of Public Health. She previously worked
as an Associate Director of the Harvard
School of Public Health’s AIDS Prevention
Initiative in Nigeria (APIN).
Dr. Carrington is vice president of the
United Nations Association of Greater Boston
and serves on the Board of Directors of
the Pan African Health Foundation and United
Bank for Africa Foundation. She is the author
of “Malaria in Nigeria,” published in the
Fall 2001 Issue of the Harvard Health Policy
Review.
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