At the time of this interview, C. William Allen represented Liberia as the ambassador to France and permanent delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). From 2006 to 2013, he served as director-general of the Liberian Civil Service Agency, where he chaired the steering committee of the President’s Young Professionals Program. In his prior post as minister of information, culture and tourism, he was the chief spokesman for the National Transitional Government of Liberia. He also worked as a journalist and taught journalism and mass communications at several universities. Allen earned a bachelor’s in journalism from Franklin College, a master of public administration from California State University at Sacramento, and a PhD in mass communication from Syracuse University.

At the time of this interview, Samuel Kofi Woods was the Liberian Minister of Public Works, having been appointed to the position in 2009. A youth activist since the age of 11, Woods went on to become a well-known champion of human rights, receiving the Reebok’s Human Rights Award in 1994 and the Benerementi Medal in 1999. Woods established the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church in Liberia in November 1991, and played a leading role in documenting and publicizing human rights abuses during the 1989-1997 civil war. His efforts in this regard included the creation of the Forefront Organization in 1994, an international advocacy and support network. Woods also set up the Foundation for International Liberty, an international non-governmental human rights organization with offices in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 2006, Woods became the Minister of Labor under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He held this position until his appointment to the Ministry of Public Works in 2009.