Our Team

Behind every successful initiative at LGJI is a team of dedicated professionals who care deeply about Liberia’s future. Each member shares a commitment to promoting justice and strengthening governance in Liberia. We work with transparency, accountability, and integrity in every project we undertake. Through collaboration and community engagement, we’re making a real difference in people’s lives.

Ahmed K. Sirleaf is a distinguished leader in Rule of Law, Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and Organizational Leadership. Mr. Sirleaf has over two decades of experience in international development, public policy, and systems planning. His expertise spans across fields like international human rights (and humanitarian law) and international criminal law, and public affairs.

Mr. Sirleaf is a skilled and experienced negotiator who excels both as a bureaucrat and a technician. Until recently (September 2024), he was a Program Officer at Greater Twin Cities United Way in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. At Greater Twin Cities United Way (a community foundation), Mr. Sirleaf oversaw a complex multi-million-dollar housing systems change innovation initiative. He worked with a diverse group of stakeholders, including local non-profits, corporate leaders, philanthropists, and state and federal government entities, to address systemic gaps and prevent homelessness in the Midwest region of the United States. His ability to foster strategic collaborations and provide innovative leadership has been pivotal in advancing community-led solutions through cross-sectoral models. He will bring this experience to Liberia.

Previously, as the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Coordinator at USAID/Liberia, Mr. Sirleaf played a key role in facilitating program coordination across USAID’s four Development Objectives Technical Teams: Economic Growth, Democracy, Rights and Governance, Health, and Education. His work ensured that the Mission’s strategic decisions were informed by lessons learned from Liberia and other U.S. Government-supported countries. He also coordinated closely with the Government of Liberia to align U.S. interventions with Liberia’s development policies. Furthermore, Mr. Sirleaf has provided technical assistance to national and international partners relative to rule of law, governance, human rights, transitional justice, and peacebuilding. For example, he co-led an effort and executed a three-year project to extend the mandate of the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) into the Liberian Diaspora, facilitating a post –TRC reconciliation project for Liberian Diaspora, and statewide and nationwide outreach on building “Welcoming Communities” in the United States for Liberians. Sirleaf co-authored the TRC’s Diaspora Report: A House with Two Rooms-Final Report of the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Diaspora Project.

As an educator, Mr. Sirleaf has made significant contributions to Liberia’s academic and diplomatic communities. He has taught courses in Global Politics, Defense and Security, Peacebuilding, Leadership, and Governance at the University of Liberia’s Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation. As a researcher and writer, Sirleaf has researched and written extensively on war crimes and transitional justice subjects, including a recent article published in Just Security on what Liberia could learn from other countries. Additionally, he has provided diplomatic training to Liberian ambassadors and foreign service officers at the Liberia Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Sirleaf’s commitment to Liberia’s post-war recovery is further demonstrated by his 2008 partnership with Books for Africa’s Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative and Thomson Reuters, where he facilitated the donation of nearly half a million dollars’ worth of law books and legal resources to then Liberia’s only law school, the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law.

Ahmed K. Sirleaf holds a Master of Public Affairs in Global Policy and Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a Master of Arts in Public International Law and the Settlement of Dispute from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace. He is currently a PhD candidate in Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota, where his research focuses on aligning international development aid with host countries’ needs through collective action.

Sirleaf is an award-winning leader. Examples of awards include: the Art Naftali Public Leadership Award (the University of Minnesota-2011), St. Thomas University School of Law’s Distinguished Human Rights Award (2008), the MShale African Leadership Award, Hamline University’s prestigious First Decade Award (given only to graduates who have had the most impacts on Humanity in the first decade since their graduation). He regularly gives public lectures and makes media appearances, including a lecture at Standford University Center on International Conflict and Negotiation, and the United Nations Institute of Training and Research, and Hamline University.

CV/Resume with specific dates of accomplishments is available upon request.

Our team at LGJI believes that positive change begins with passionate people. Learn more about our team and how you can contribute by reaching us today.