Management & Directors John Sarpong - Chairman & CEO Mr. Sarpong is an experienced executive and entrepreneur with a record of establishing, managing and adding value to global and domestic business operations. Prior to Africast, he founded Southline Industries in 1996, an aerospace technical design, certification and project management company serving the air transport, corporate and special mission military aircraft industries. Southline Industries completed projects for Gulfstream Aerospace, Raytheon Corporation (two projects for the Korean Air Force, and the Japan Maritime Safety Agency), and Sikorsky Helicopter (a project for the Turkish Navy and U.S. Army Blackhawks). From 1985 to 1995, Mr. Sarpong worked for the Boeing Company, where he distinguished himself by being inducted into Boeing’s prestigious EXPO program for executives. As Boeing’s Market Analyst for the Asia/Pacific region, he was responsible for developing sales and marketing strategies leading to sales of aircraft to more than 40 airlines. In 2000, Mr. Sarpong founded Africast.com LLC, a full-service e-commerce and Internet portal offering money remittance services to Africa, and educational, entertainment and daily news programming from Africa in streaming video and audio media. He created the non-profit Africast Foundation to outfit Schoolweb computer labs for rural schools in Africa. He is a member of the United Nations ICT Task Force, a co-founder of the Africa Digital Diaspora Network, and a member of the Africa Advisory Committee of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. Mr. Sarpong brings seasoned management, technical and marketing skills to AFRICAST, as well as a strong contact base throughout Africa and the U.S. to help build the Company’s business. He is a native of Ghana, and a graduate of Yale with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering. Leonard Chaikind - Director In 1991, after a long career both in Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Oil, Leonard Chaikind, now age 73, founded Institutional Investors Consulting Company (IICC). IICC's primary mission is to help Tax Exempt Funds, i.e Pension Plans, Foundations and Endowment Funds, operate more effectively. In addition to operating an investment bank, IICC works with many not for profit groups. While with Shell and Royal Dutch Shell, Mr. Leonard Chaikind had many assignments which included serving as the Administrator of the $12 plus billion dollars Shell Savings and Retirement Programs with responsibility for both the investment and administration of 4 major funds. He also served as the Regional Treasurer for Royal Dutch Shell covering the Far East and Australasia. He served as an active member of both the NYSE Institutional Investors Advisory Committee and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Advisory Board. Michael Day - CFO & Executive VP From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Day served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Vice President, Finance of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom. He was responsible for managing a broad range of financial areas including MTV Networks planning, financial reporting and control, treasury, capital approval and MTV Networks International finance. Responsibilities included cash flow budgeting, forecasting and management including approximately $4.3 billion of receipts, $2.7 billion of operating disbursements and $110 million of capital expenditures. He also held a lead role in integrating two merged entities, CBS and Comedy Central, as well as identifying and managing all related accounting issues. From 1993 to 1998, Mike served in various positions with the Walt Disney Company including Director of Corporate Financial Reporting. Prior to Walt Disney, Mike was Senior Manager of the Audit Team for Deloitte & Touche LLP in New York from1983 to 1993. Mike is a Certified Public Account in the State of New York, and holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University. Alvin D. James - V.P., Corporate Development Mr. James led MBC Network into 15 million homes in only 2 ˝ years and received a $450 million valuation from a Fortune 500 Investment Banking firm. In USA Today's June 16, 1993, edition, Mr. James was credited with launching the first African-American Movie Network for basic cable, under the title: "MBC beats BET (Black Entertainment Television) to the punch by debuting its 12-hour block of A frican-American films via satellite". Today, MBC has over 22 million subscribers. He started his career in the early 1980's as an independent contractor for ON-TV, a subscription television service, where he built, developed and trained a sales force of 200. Later, Warner Amex Cable employed him as a regional marketing representative, where he gained insight into the cable industry. One year later, Mr. James convinced a small group of top marketing executives from Warner Amex Cable to join him in a venture that would be acknowledged by industry trades as an alternative network to MTV, "The Star Video Music Network" (a subsidiary of Solarvision Inc.). As Chairman, Mr. James debuted this niche-network in Houston, Texas, at the National Cable Television Association and signed up over 5 million subscribers during the four-day convention. A founding board member of the Dallas Chapter of the National Association of Minorities in Cable (NAMIC), Mr. James is a frequent moderator and speaker at industry trade shows and conferences. He received a B.A. degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Bishop College in Dallas, Texas. Joseph Lawson - VP of Marketing & Affiliate Sales A seasoned cable television industry executive with 19 years of hands-on experience on the Operator and Programmer sides of the cable television business, Mr. Lawson served as Senior VP of Marketing and Affiliate Sales of Wisdom Media Group from 2001 to 2003. During his tenure at Wisdom, he tripled the network’s distribution with cable operator within one year. From 1998 to 2000, he served as VP of Marketing at Bresnan Communications where he led marketing and programming strategy for the entire company. From 1993 to 1998 he served as VP of Marketing for BET where he led all marketing activity including consumer and affiliate marketing for three television networks. Mr. Lawson has served in the following industry professional affiliations : President of the National Association of Minorities In Cable (NAMIC) 1998-2000; CTAM National Summit Committee, 1997 to Present; board member of the Walter Kaitz Foundation 1999-2000; Co-Founder of the Cable Television Industry Diversity Network. Mr. Lawson holds a BA in African-American Studies from Yale and an MBA from Columbia. Antoinette Alexander-Sarpong – Programming Director Ms. Sarpong has a broad range of experience in the media field having spent over 20 years in the television and film industry: CNN International and CNN Spanish, 1990-1994; TV Asahi (Japan), 1992 and Soviet Union Television 1990, holding positions as executive producer, assistant director, researcher and image consultant. In 1995, she founded Antoinette Associates, Inc., a multimedia and image consulting company, which received a contract in 1996 for the Atlanta Olympic Games film and videotape production. Additional projects successfully accomplished by her media and image-consulting firm include “The Global Forum” with former President Bill Clinton, and Mary Davis Fisher’s memorable speech at the Republican National Convention. All major networks and cable television carried both projects. She has been credited on “Good Morning America”, “Larry King Live”, “ Century Of Women” (TBS), and has worked with several renowned producers, entertainers, athletes, politicians and educators including: Oliver Stone, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jane Fonda, Quincy Jones, Maya Angelou, Spike Lee, Nancy Wilson, and James Earl Jones. She received her BA degree in Human Resources from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Advisory Board Barbara Lamont Ms. Lamont has since 1988 served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Network Teleports, a major satellite transmission facility based in New Orleans. Highlights of her professional career include the building of a satellite telecommunications hub and an independent television station, a background in network broadcast journalism, and a 25-year career as a classical and jazz pianist. Fluent in seven languages, Ms. Lamont has lived and worked in Europe, Africa, and North and South America. She has worked for numerous companies, including CBS and ABC Networks, CBS Radio Network, Metromedia, and served for two years as Director of Operations for the Nigerian Television Network. After returning to the U.S. from Nigeria, Ms. Lamont was awarded an FCC license to build a television station in New Orleans. After obtaining her license, she built both WCCL-TV 49 and Network Teleports, Inc. (NTI). NTI was started in 1988 with two antennas and seven employees. As one of the largest fiber-optic interconnected teleports in the world, NTI now serves a wide range of clients, including corporations, universities, medical institutions, oil and gas companies, and the broadcast news and entertainment industries in the transmission of voice, video and data. Ms. Lamont is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with a B.A. in International Law and holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard’s Business School and the Kennedy School of Government. She has received various Associated Press Awards, and was the 1991 recipient of the prestigious national "CANDACE" award, chosen by AT&T and the Council of 100 Black Women. Ms. Lamont is an author, a private pilot, a poet, and the mother of four. John A. Kuri John Kuri, writer, director, executive producer of film and television, has broad experience with many major studios in Hollywood on a variety of high quality feature films and television. His affiliations have included The Walt Disney companies, Paramount, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Turner Network Television, ABC television, NBC television, and Imagine Films Entertainment. His filmography includes over 25 titles and have received numerous awards and nominations including the Emmy, the Cable Ace, the Christopher Award for excellence in television, the Western Heritage Award, and the Golden Halo, to name a few. He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, a member of the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, and Art Directors Guild. John is the co-creator of the Warner Brothers/ABC police drama Ohara, starring Pat Morita and Catherine Keener; co-wrote and produced through Kuri Productions Inc., the MGM feature Captive Hearts; wrote and published the story, then the script which became the movie One More Mountain which he produced for Disney and ABC. He was nominated for an Emmy for NBC's movie of John Steinbeck's, The Red Pony, which starred Henry Fonda and produced director Ron Howard's film Skyward which starred Betty Davis. In recent months, a Los Angeles Times story praised one of John's films, Conagher, considering it to be one of the most historically accurate movies set in the old west. The film was based on the novel by Louis L'Amour and starred Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross. Over the years while writing many screenplays, six of John's works have been published. His historical novel Cheyenne Rising Sun arrived in bookstores in September 2004 and rose to #1 on best seller lists in cities including Malibu and Pacific Palisades. His next novel, Takin' It Back, an urban drama focusing on a diverse mixture of five teenage boys and two off-duty cops who mentor these boys in basketball and life, is releasing in June ‘05 at Book Expo America in NY city. John recently completed the writing of a mini-series for Hallmark Entertainment about the famed story of the Battle of Tripoli. John resides in Malibu, California, with his wife and is the proud father of five. Gregory A. Thomson Gregory A. Thomson has over ten years' experience as an executive, management consultant and attorney in the entertainment and media industries. Currently, Mr. Thomson is a management consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton in New York, where he advises major media and new media companies on matters of strategic change. At Booz-Allen, Mr. Thomson's projects have included advising a major cable television network on its online strategy, assessing the role of non-governmental funding sources for public broadcasting, and advising a major television station group regarding its expansion and acquisition strategy. Previously, Mr. Thomson worked extensively in Los Angeles as an attorney and consultant. He served for five years at Quincy Jones Productions/Qwest Records, where he headed Business Affairs for one of Hollywood's most active production and recording companies. Mr. Thomson also served two stints in private practice, most recently at King, Purtich, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner in Los Angeles. Mr. Thomson has extensive experience in negotiating, structuring and drafting recording, music publishing, joint venture, distribution and record company agreements, both domestically and internationally, on behalf of superstar producers and recording artists, as well as on behalf of startup companies. As an independent consultant, his projects have included work with Interval Research (a Paul Allen company), and advising a specialty magazine on a joint venturing strategy. In addition, Mr. Thomson has remained active as a member of the creative community. He directed and produced the award-winning 1995 documentary, Lowriders, and hosted a weekly public radio program in Los Angeles. Mr. Thomson holds a law degree from Yale Law School, an MBA (with honors) from Columbia University, and a BA from Yale College. George Twumasi Mr. Twumasi brings direct hands on experience of building and running a network targeted at Africans on the African continent. From 1988 to 2002, George founded and served as Vice Chairman of the African Broadcast Network (ABN), based in London and Johannesburg, with a broadcast reach of 100 million Africans in 10 African countries. His responsibilities included formulation and monitoring of the company’s corporate development strategy, acquiring programming and formulation and co-ordination of the company’s affiliate broadcast network development strategy. From 1988 to 1998, he served as Programming Distribution Consultant for London-based TVE International. His accomplishments included brokering a significant South African Broadcasting (SABC) programming acquisition deal on TVE’s behalf and securing the pan-African television programming distribution framework which catalyzed a major TVE co-production with a consortium of South African companies including the SABC, Ice Media, and Ubuntu Productions on a thirteen part documentary series –African Renaissance. From 1986 to 1994 he established and operated Studio Afrique Montage to develop and produce merchandisable animated cartoon portfolios, Tales of Fantonia, which is derived from African folklore. George is a founding member of the African Public Broadcasting Foundation. Some of his recent engagements include serving as a Juror in the 2002 International Emmy Awards, and winning the KPMG Enterprise Initiative Award. He received his Post-Graduate Diploma in Film Studies/TV Directing/Script from the Ghana National Film Institute, where he also won a Goethe Institute award for best student documentary film. George J. Stoulil President & COO of Africast.com, LLC, an Africa news and special interest portal serving the millions of African expatriates in the US and Europe, providing news, entertainment, financial services, and discount telecommunications services. Mr. Stoulil is an entrepreneur with over twenty years experience building and managing businesses in the domestic and international arenas. He has successfully led three companies from startup to profitability. Prior to Africast, Mr. Stoulil served as Co-Founder and President, International Operations of Emerson Communications, LLC, a Seattle based telecommunications company providing callback service to 180 countries. His other achievements include: General Manager of Magnum aser Systems, Inc., a Seattle based manufacturer of toner cartridges for laser printers; Founder and President, Etne Trade AS, Norway – an international trading company specializing in Scandinavia, Europe, and the Mediterranean regions. At Etne Trade, he brokered several multinational counter trade transactions of industrial and technical equipment between East and West European countries. Mr. Stoulil’s entrepreneurial career began as Co-Founder and President of Secretary Coffee Service, a Los Angeles based coffee company providing pre-packaged coffee and equipment to businesses in central and southern California. Mr. Stoulil brings valuable international business experience, as well as, a deep commitment to the vision of Africast Global Media. Charles C. Hewitt Charles C. Hewitt has over 27 years experience in the aerospace industry where he developed programs in marketing, distribution, training, and legislative and regulatory affairs. Mr. Hewitt has created several national entities to represent various industry interests to the public and on Capitol Hill. He retired in 2001 after 18 years as head of the U.S. Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA). In 1984, Mr. Hewitt became the first head of the Society for Private And Commercial Earth stations (SPACE) representing manufactures and retailers of home satellite systems. In December of 1986, he merged the association with the Direct Broadcast Systems Association to form the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. In 1988, Mr. Hewitt led the successful passage of the Satellite Home Viewers Act, an act that provided the right for consumers to receive distant signals. In 1992, he was instrumental in adding an amendment to the 1992 Cable Act that guaranteed satellite providers fair access, price, terms, and conditions to programming. Mr. Hewitt was pivotal in the 1995 FCC decision to preempt local zoning and covenants that attempted to bar or restrict the use of satellite dishes. In 1996, he successfully led the battle that resulted in the passage of the preemption against local taxes on satellite programming, and in 1999, he led the effort that resulted in the passage of the Satellite Home Viewers and Improvement Act that among other things allowed DBS operators to carry local signals. In 1994, Mr. Hewitt launched SkyResearch, which resulted in the collection of U.S. satellite subscribers data and the development of programs such as annual market research report to the industry, a monthly market and data publication, a daily news e-mail “SkyReport”, and a twice annually financial event called SkyForum. Mr. Hewitt has won numerous awards including: 1977 Werner Von Braun recognition for “his outstanding work in the development of the National Space Institute”; in 1989 SBCA’s “Outstanding Contributions” award; named “5th Estater” by Broadcasting and Cable magazine in 1991; in 1992 the Association Mexicana De La Industria De La Television Via Satellite, A.C. award for building relations with the Mexican satellite industry; in 1995 he received an DBS Inny “Special Recognition” for legislative activities and in 1998 a DBS Inny for “Executive of the year”; in 1998, the SBCA Retail Council award for legislative accomplishments; and in 1999, Satellite Business News readers named Chuck one of the top three satellite executives in the satellite industry. In 1999 Washingtonian magazine named Mr. Hewitt as one of the top 50 most influential association Presidents of over eight thousand associations in the country. Mr. Hewitt graduated with an AB and Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas.