Nana Kwabena Bempong (Founder)

Founder and life patron of Bempong Foundation. Nana founded the organization when he was 8 years old. He is now 12 and attends St. Joseph Catholic School in Barrhaven. Nana loves soccer and helping out.

Lawrence Greenspon (Co-Chair)

Lawrence Greenspon is a local Ottawa lawyer and philanthropist, and is Bempong's honourary co-chair. Besides Bempong, he has worked on a variety of charitable organizations including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the United Way and the Snowsuit Fund. In 2008, Mr. Greenspon was the recipient of the United Way’s Community Builder of the Year Award. 

David Kilgour (Co-Chair)

David Kilgour is the former Member of Parliament for Southeast Edmonton. Amongst serving a variety of roles during his term in office, Mr. Kilgour chaired subcommittees on Human Rights and International Development. He now devotes much of his time to awareness of genocide issues, especially those of the Darfur region of Sudan. Mr. Kilgour is a honourary co-chair of Bempong Foundation. For more information, please see his website at http://www.david-kilgour.com/.

Senator Vivian Poy (Honorary Patron)  

An author, entrepreneur, fashion designer, and historian, Vivienne Poy is the first Canadian of Asian decent to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.  She was appointed to the Senate in 1998.  She served as Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 2003 until 2006. She founded Vivienne Poy Mode in 1981 and over the following fourteen years enjoyed great success in fashion design, manufacturing and retail. She is currently Chairwoman of Lee Tak Wai Holdings Limited. As a Senator, she is a member of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and is also a member of numerous Parliamentary Associations and Friendship groups. Senator Poy is also involved in many charitable organizations and community groups.

Andy Kusi-Appiah (President)

Andy Kusi-Appiah is a demographer, a medical geographer and an international development consultant. He served as Senior Policy Advisor to former Mayor of Ottawa, Bob Chiarelli, on Community Relations and Diversity Issues for the City of Ottawa. Andy has also been active with youth in the community, coaching soccer, counselling youth and adolescents. He has volunteered on a number of organizations such as Oxfam and served on many committees for the Canadian Red Cross Society. Mr. Kusi-Appiah is co-founder/CEO of Canada Education Management Agency

Peter Kitchen (Co-Director)

Peter Kitchen has a PhD in Geography and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton. He has work and research experience in the areas of urban geography, environment and health, justice and international development. Peter received a Humanitarian Service Commendation from the Canadian Red Cross for volunteer service during disaster flooding in the United States.

Roxanne Goodman (Co-Director)

Roxanne Goodman is a motivational speaker with a musical background. She studied music at Concordia University to become a Jazz vocalist and has performed in venues such as the Brook Street Hotel, the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, and the Jazz Festival in Montreal, to name a few. She is the founder of the company Confidence Booster where she motivates and teaches children (and adults) to start with confidence and end with results. For more information please see her web site http://www.confidencebooster.ca/

Joy Ding (Co-Director and Co-Founder)

Joy Ding is currently attending McGill University pursuing her Bachelor of Arts and Science, honours in Cognitive Science and minor in Religious Studies. She is an avid volunteer and has worked with organizations such as the AIDS Committee of Ottawa, Community Foundation of Ottawa and Canada and the Social Equity and Diversity Education office at McGill. Joy was the recipient of the Millennium Excellence Award and the Zonta Humanitarian Award. She loves to knit, paint, and explore during her spare time.

Daniel Kirby

Dan Kirby is a University of Ottawa law student. In the past, he has helped with fundraising for Ottawa's Bruce House and the Heart and Stroke foundation. Mr. Kirby has had involvement with many youth programs throughout Ottawa, and last year he was a coordinator of a Rural Youth Summit. It is this involvement with youth that has brought Mr. Kirby to Bempong Foundation.

Emery A. Kayiranga

Emery A. Kayiranga is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who now lives in Ottawa. He is a biotechnology student at La Cite Collégiale. He is currently an adviser to Humura, a Canadian association of genocide survivors of Rwanda. Emery also works with different organizations such as his college student association as a representative of the Health Science programs and different Afro-Canadian Organizations. He has also volunteered with the World University Service of Canada and has helped raised money for different charities. Emery is now proud to be a member of Bempong. 

Jessica Lyon

Jessica is a recent graduate of Anthropology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She is currently working on harm reduction research for HIV/AIDS Regional Services in Kingston Ontario, as well as applying for a Masters of Public Health. In her off time she enjoys reading, sailing and traveling. Jessica feels strongly about issues of social justice and truly enjoys working in her field and aims to work with NGOs as her career progresses.

Willy Rangira

Willy Rangira is a local Ottawa resident and survivor of the Rwandan genocide. He is the past-president of Humura, a Canadian association of Genocide Survivors of Rwanda

Ronald Heale

Ron Heale is a manager at the Public Health Agency of Canada

Ilan Liebner (Co-founder)

Ilan Liebner is a founding member of the Bempong Foundation. During his five years in Ottawa, Ilan pioneered the Ottawa Project Against Hate and Racial Discrimination, working extensively with the city's political, religious and ethno-cultural leaders to address discrimination at the local level. Ilan spent part of 2006 at the J.F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University before coming to Israel to pursue a Masters degree in Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Richard Watson 

Richard is the president of 1derwork Inc. (wonderwork) which provides charitable and non profit organizations with dynamic new media design and development free of charge including branding, websites, TV and radio production and many other corporate communication tools needed to reach the world effectively today. 1derwork is proud to be able to provide these services to organizations such as the Bempong Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Canadian Liver Foundation, Learning Disabilities Association, animal rescue organizations, local theatre companies, and many more.