Board of Trustees - Lincoln Community School

Slideshow

The LCS Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall health and long-term future of the school. This governance role is essentially strategic rather than operational, with broad responsibility for:

Establishing policies that guide school operations
Maintaining a long-term financial plan and approving an annual budget for the school
Hiring, evaluating, and providing feedback to the Head of School
Ensuring that the school's Mission is reflected in its programs, and is adequately resourced

While they help steer the strategic decisions that chart our school's course, the Board is also part of the LCS community. All current board members are parents with students enrolled at the school. As such, they understand the importance of involving parents, teachers, and staff in decision-making.

The nine member Board of Trustees is made up of four trustees who are elected by parents, two who are appointed by the Board members, and three who are appointed by the U.S. Ambassador.

Governance Structure

The governance structure of the Board of Trustees consists of four (4) standing committees, Finance, Trusteeship, Facilities and Executive. They are made up by a combination of members of the Board, Administration, and members of the community.

The role of the Finance Committee is to exercise oversight over school finances, recommend draft annual budgets for Board approval, and develop a rolling seven-year financial plan for LCS.

The role of the Trusteeship Committee is to sustain an effective Board at LCS to carry out its mission using good governance practices, and to ensure that a strong pool of candidates stands for election each year.

The role of the Facilities Committee is to exercise oversight over LCS school facilities, and make recommendations to the Board on any facility maintenance or development.

The Executive Committee is composed of the four (4) Board Officers and the Head of School, and its role is to facilitate communication between and among Board committees, as well as with Board membership as a whole. As needed, the committee may also serve to support and provide guidance to the Head of School.

In any given year, the Board may create ad hoc committees, to perform specific tasks or goals. Such committees will normally exist for a predetermined period of time but will follow the same guidelines as standing committees.

Members

Olusola Ogundimu, President

Olusola Ogundimu

President
Elected by the LCS Community - Nigerian

Olusola Ogundimu has a background in law and was called to the Nigerian (1992) and the Ghanaian (2007) Bar respectively. She also has a degree in English Language. She currently runs her own law practice in Ghana and has also worked as a legal consultant in Freetown Sierra Leone while teaching at the Fourah Bay College.

After serving 4 years on the Board from 2014-2018 as Chair of the Trusteeship Committee, Olusola returned to the Board in 2020, where she has continued to act as a sounding board on legal matters concerning the school. She is married to Dolapo Ogundimu and they have one son (Oluwakorede) who is now in grade 12 having spent the past 13 years at LCS.

Dean Matlack, Vice-President

Dean Matlack

Vice-President
Appointed by the US Ambassador- American

Dean Matlack assumed his position in the U.S. Embassy as Counselor for Commercial Affairs in August, 2021. He is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service with twenty-years experience in international trade. His past tours include assignments at U.S. diplomatic missions in Kazakhstan, Thailand and Japan, as well as a domestic assignment in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Dean holds a Master of Public Administration in International Management from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Political Science from Weber State University. He is joined in Accra by his wife Jennifer and daughter, a LCS student.

Munish Gupta, Treasurer & Chair of the Finance Committee

Munish Gupta

Treasurer
Appointed by the Board - Indian

Munish is a Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant from India. He carries more than 26 years of experience in both finance and business, during which he has handled various roles i.e. Financial Controller, Country Head and Commodity Trader/Business Head in his current and last employment. He has been instrumental in starting new business streams, handling PNL responsibility, risk management, customer relationship management, sustainability projects etc.

Munish also picked up French during his time as the Country Head for Olam in Togo and still uses it well. Munish has been living in Ghana for the past seven years with his wife Nidhi. Munish’s elder son is already in university after graduating from LCS and his younger son is in 11th grade at LCS.

Christal Beeko, Secretary

Christal Beeko

Secretary
Elected by the LCS Community- Ghanaian

With 14 years of experience in media and public relations in Ghana, Christal brings extensive communication and marketing skills to the Board. An LCS Alum, Christal is now a proud LCS parent to her daughter in grade 3, and hopes to help LCS continue its journey to be the most exciting learning environment in Africa.

Cherice Siebert, Trusteeship Committee Chair

Cherice Siebert

Trusteeship Committee Chair
Appointed by the Board to complete a term elected by the LCS Community - American

Cherice has just arrived here in Accra, Ghana, and is thrilled to be joining the LCS community. She has served on four international school boards and her professional experiences have included working as a prosecuting attorney, a policy consultant, and public health engagement advisor.

Cherice obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Brigham Young University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Together with her spouse, Dan, they have done a total of nine tours and have lived in Africa, the US, South America, and Asia. They share four children, two are in university, and the other two are in High School at LCS.

Johnny Nettey, Facilities Committee Chair

Johnny Netty

Facilities Committee Chair
Appointed by the Board - Ghanaian

Johnny Nettey is a believer in the LCS learning environment and it’s truly multicultural community - having seen the effect on his daughter Naa-Dede.

Professionally, Johnny was responsible for making the case for the first ICANN meeting to be held in Sub-Saharan Africa and in assisting the Gambia, Togo and Liberia with their business cases to attain their connectivity to the Internet.He has been involved in projects for (among others): Bank of Ghana, Electoral Commission, Ecobank and Vodafone.

Having spent his entire working life in information technology, Johnny hopes to bring this perspective to the running and governance of LCS within the nuance of our unique Ghanaian culture.

Brandon Brooker

Appointed by the US Ambassador - American

Brandon joins the Board for the first time this school year, having already been in Ghana for one year. He is joined in Accra by his wife, son, and daughter, with his daughter currently enrolled at LCS. Prior to arriving in Ghana, Brandon spent more than 13 years working as a professional staff in the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. He has a B.A. in Government from Oral Roberts University, and also a Graduate Certificate in Advanced International Affairs from the Bush School at Texas A&M University

Katie Cummings

Appointed by the US Ambassador - American

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Katie earned a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan and then a M.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as a high school history teacher in Pennsylvania she left the classroom to be a project manager in standardised testing for the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. At that time her husband, Jason, began his career in the foreign service and they have subsequently been posted to several cities throughout Asia, Australia, and the United States for the past 18 years. Together they have three children ages 15, 14, and 11.

Eddie Mensah

Elected by the LCS Community - Ghanaian

As a Ghanaian by birth and an American by sojourn, Eddie has enjoyed watching his daughters transition into the school last year and was inspired by this to serve and support the work of the Board. Eddie brings his experience as a Head of School to the Board, and his passion and dedication to serve in the stewardship of our Mission driven school.

Lesley Tait

Head of School - New Zealander

Lesley is the newly appointed Head of School at LCS. She has had a long career in education both in her home country of New Zealand and within the international schooling world. Prior to coming to Accra, she served as the Director of Teaching & Learning and Interim Head of School at the American School of Brasilia in Brazil. She has a Masters degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Apart from focusing on all aspects of educational leadership, she enjoys hiking, travelling and reading. She is excited to work with the LCS Board bringing to life LCS’s amazing new mission, vision and values.