Meet the Board of Directors

Oduah Kwesi Sampson (Paa Kwesi)
President

Paa Kwesi Sampson has worked as a Cultural Administrator with the Centre for National Culture of Ghana for many years and has rich experiences in event organization and management. He has also been involved in various capacities for the planning and implementation of the Pan-African Historical Festival (PANAFEST), including serving on committees. Appointed as a Local Coordinator for a youth intercultural exchange program spanning a period of over ten years, he has worked and received acknowledgement for initiating projects and activities with the involvement of foreign volunteers and local communities in areas of education, culture and development oriented programs.

He is also involved with various non-governmental organizations, helping to raise the standards of education in schools and of the poor needy and abandoned children in orphanages through the placement of foreign volunteers with diverse educational backgrounds.

A holder of a Diploma in Business Studies, Human Resource administration, he has worked in various capacities including as a research assistant in cultural anthropology.

He is versatile, very hard working and an excellent team player.

Nicole Beauchamp
Treasurer

Nicole’s educational background is in International Relations, specifically the study of Middle Eastern Cultures, Islam and Arabic. She’s traveled the world extensively, throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Central America. She has made numerous trips to Ghana, as a volunteer and independently. She has a deep interest in and connection to Ghana and its people.

Nicole also has extensive experience in office management and administration. She’s excited to combine these skills with her passion for Africa to move Global Host Project forward.

Ann Reed
Board Member

Ann Reed received her Ph.D. in anthropology and minor in African studies from the Indiana University in 2006. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Akron in Ohio.
Dr. Reed has maintained a long-term interest in Ghana, dating back to 1993-94 when she studied social science and African literature and drumming at the University of Ghana (Legon). Since then, she has returned to Ghana on four separate research trips.

Some of the topics she has researched include impacts of structural adjustment programs on the household, economic development for villages surrounding Kakum National Park, pilgrimage tourism that attracts diaspora Africans to Ghana, and contemporary meanings of Ghana's independence for the oldest and youngest generations of Ghanaians.

Marsha Scarbrough
Board Member

Marsha Scarbrough is a widely published freelance journalist and author of Medicine Dance: One woman’s healing journey into the world of Native American Sweatlodges, Drumming Meditations and Dance Fasts, published in August 2007 by O Books, John Hunt Publishing, which recounts her experiences with Native American indigenous spirituality.

Marsha studied West African indigenous spirituality with master drummer/Yoruba ceremonial leader Ayo Adeyemi from Nigeria for 12 years. Marsha studied West African dance with Elise Gent at the Railyard Performance Space in Santa Fe for seven years.

Marsha has traveled widely in Europe, Asia, Mexico, Peru and Egypt. Along the way, Marsha traveled with Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax, danced with movement guru Gabrielle Roth, earned a brown belt in karate from martial arts legend Tak Kubota, participated in healing ceremonies with Native American medicine teacher Beautiful Painted Arrow/Joseph Rael and produced workshops and events for Nigerian master drummer/Yoruba ceremonial leader Ayo Adeyemi.

In 2006, the Los Angeles native moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. She’s a licensed New Mexico REALTOR® with EXIT Santa Fe Real Estate.

Anthony King, MD, FACC, FACP
Board Member

Dr. King attended Medical School at Dartmouth Medical School.

He completed his residencies at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Harlem Hospital Center. He also completed fellowships at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Harlem Hospital Center.

Dr. King is the Medical Director of the Echocardiography Cardiac Services at Borgess Medical Center, the Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at Sturgis and the Medical Director at the Borgess Heart Failure Program & Borgess Heart Failure Clinic at Borgess Medical Center.