Board of Directors
Lisa Lau
Founder/ Executive Director
Lisa Lau was born and raised in New York City. Lisa graduated from Brown University with a double major in Anthropology and International Relations. Throughout her professional career, she has maintained a passion for empowering youth through education and new learning opportunities. She has worked almost a decade in the international development field, including at World Links, an international education nonprofit, the World Bank, and at the International City Management Association (ICMA). She has managed international programs funded by USAID, US SOUTHCOM, and the World Bank that have ranged from $30,000 to $7 million. Although most of her international experience has been in Asia and Latin America, she developed a keen social interest in the cocoa sector in Africa as a lifelong chocolate aficionado.
While attaining her master's degree in International Education Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she examined the education system and the entrepreneurial climate in Ghana. She and her classmate put together a social enterprise business plan to address how to transform the way youth learn in school to inspire them to innovate, which later served as a platform to eventually launch EDUCOA.
Judit Deilinger
Judit Deilinger is an international and business development professional with over 18 years of experience in the design, oversight and implementation of international technical assistance programs, strategic leadership, and all aspects of new business development. An economist and educator by trade, she is well versed in local economic development, municipal management and services, decentralization, and sustainable development, including urbanization in transition countries. She is a former teacher of English and Russian language and history and is passionate about education. Currently, she is the Associate Vice President for new business at IESC (International Executive Service Corp). Previously she worked at ICMA (International City Management Association) as the Director of New Initiatives. She holds an MA in Economics/European Studies from the University of Economics in Budapest, Hungary and an MA in Education.
Henry Lau
Henry Lau is a corporate attorney based in the Tokyo office of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto where he works on mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters. He is born and raised in New York City, and is interested in international development and education issues. His previous work experience includes working as a corporate attorney in New York City and Hong Kong for the international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and working in New York City as a financial analyst in an investment bank and a private equity boutique. Henry received a B.A. from Yale College where he graduated with distinction in History and International Studies, and received a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Kofi Menkah
Kofi Menkah began his career at the Ghana Education Service as a Mathematics and Integrated Science Teacher. He later joined the Parliamentary Service of Ghana where he serves to date. Kofi has served on several Parliamentary Committees, such as the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, Committee on Education, Special Committee on Poverty Reduction Strategy, and Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs. Kofi also served on a number of Boards including Sources Unlimited Microfinance Limited and African Center for Science & International Security. He has also coordinated a number of development assistance to the Parliament of Ghana including UNDP Parliamentary Strengthening Project and African Development Bank Institutional Support Project to the Parliamentary Service of Ghana. He holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies at the University of Ghana and a B.Sc. in Agricultural Science from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He also earned a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration.
