WHO WE ARE
Mission & Vision
The Gbomai Bestman Foundation Inc. is dedicated to improving
the health and well being of mothers and children through pre
and postnatal care, nutrition, child healthcare, family planning,
and health education to reduce maternal and child mortality rate
in West Africa, Liberia.
It is our vision to provide free, simple, and comprehensive health
care to new and expectant mothers in the rural areas of Liberia
that is comparable to standards in more advanced countries so
that socio‐economic class is not a barrier to good health; where
child mortality is on the steady decrease, whereby giving each
child the opportunity to live beyond 5 years of age.
Through our mission and vision we hope to empower the women
of Liberia to make their health a priority, to ensure the safe
delivery and healthy start of Liberia’s future leaders.
Our Founder
Gbomai Bestman | gbomaib@gbomaibestmanfoundation.org
 Gbomai Bestman‐Johnson is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, DC, having
earned a Bachelor of Science In Health Sciences with a concentration in Health
Management . In 2001, she launched Compassionate Nursing and Health Care Agency
(CNHCA) as an entrepreneurial venture in the organization and management of health
services. Recognized as a top tier Nursing agency, CNHCA is experienced in staffing medical
facilities, nursing homes, and private homes, based in the heart of downtown Silver Spring,
Maryland.
In the 1980s, she moved to the United States as a young expecting mother, in pursuit
of higher education because she understood the correlation between education and
success. Honing her innate sense of strength and resilience, she worked her way through
college while her beloved country, Liberia, was torn apart in the midst of a senseless and
brutal war. Gbomai struggled to reconcile her separation from family members still in
Liberia with her acculturation into American society. However, the dark reality of the
conditions in Liberia quickly set in when she was informed of the death of her mother and
brother. Grief stricken, her father suffered from a stroke shortly afterwards. As a resident
alien of the United States, unable to offer physical consolation to family members, all she
could do was rely on eyewitness accounts of the displacement and suffering of those living
through the 1989 massacre. It took bold determination and great audacity for her to make
the strides she has to become a successful entrepreneur. Channeling the strength of her late
mother, who withstood the perils of female inferiority that highlighted Liberian culture in
the 70s and 80s, Gbomai found her source of inspiration. Through courage and
perseverance, she embarked on an education at Howard University as a single mom and
began a career in the health sector.
As she was once a young, single mother, she is all too aware of the shame and resentment
that can accompany unplanned motherhood. She understands that society places a stigma
on adolescent mothers, which when internalized, could become detrimental to their will to
preservere and future successes. Yet she encourages these mothers to be audacious, and
often times defiant, of the status quo that attempts to stifle their potential.
She established The Gbomai Bestman Foundation a commemorative venture, altruistic in
nature, to serve as a repository for the memory of her mother Izetta Roberts Bestman, the
lost souls of Liberia’s massacre, as well to honor her personal trials and tribulations as a
young mother. Most importantly, this foundation seeks to address the negligence of
women in the rural areas of Liberia. She believes that it’s time to give back to the country
that taught her life lessons as an adolescent, providing her with a keen understanding of
the sacred bond of motherhood as well as a sound foundation of womanhood.
Gbomai is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, the Who’s Who Historical Society of Professionals,
and the Entrepreneur's Organization.
She is happily married to Bodger Johnson, also a graduate of Howard University and an entrepreneur. They have four beautiful children and live in Sandy Spring, Maryland.
The GBF Team
Nichole Bestman, Projects Director | nicholeb@gbomaibestmanfoundation.org
 Nichole Bestman, a founding team member, identified her interest in Liberia at an early age. This identification allowed her to explore leveraging creative capacity with social good abroad in her studies at Howard University where she received a B.B.A in International Business with a Marketing concentration. Additionally, she studied at the Euromed Management, a United Nations Global Compact business school in Marseille, France. As the Business Development Manager at Compassionate Nursing & Health Care Agency, daily she works on building new business opportunities for the agency including the development of the agency's new business line, Compassionate Concierge.
Various forms of the arts, fashion, and humanitarianism have always inspired her. Couple with a hint of 'girl power' she has always admired in her mother, Gbomai Bestman, is inspired by 21st century women that exhibit such style and yet lobby for issues of substance. After working with various, non-profits including College Summit in DC and the Macdella Cooper Foundation, she was eager to join her mother in a nonprofit venture as Projects Director for the Gbomai Bestman Foundation. Through this position, she hopes to mobilize young women of her generation to give back to women like them across the globe, in the very country that has inspired her the most, Liberia. For the women that have been disappointed and overlooked by circumstances in Liberia, her dream is that they can echo one of her heroines, Eva Peron, that once said, “I know that, like every woman of the people, I have more strength than I appear to have,” and feel empowered to change their situation.
Nichole is a member of the Harvard Summer Venture in Management Alumni Association
Bodger Johnson, Interim Finance Director | bodgerj@gbomaibestmanfoundation.org
The Advisory Panel
Kelli Clifton, Advisory Panel
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Kelli Clifton is a Senior Associate Advisor within the Surgical Profitability Compass at The Advisory Board Company. In this role, Kelli serves as the primary relationship manager for hospital executives and staff utilizing business intelligence applications to transform process improvement, physician alignment, and supply cost management. Kelli holds a Master of Health Administration from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Prior to joining The Advisory Board Company, Kelli assisted with the on-site development of a pediatric hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As an Administrative Resident at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL), Kelli implemented Six Sigma process improvement techniques to drive
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physician engagement and satisfaction. Also, as an Administrative Resident at The Ohio State University Medical Center, Kelli investigated the productivity and financial provision of on-call compensation for specialty nursing.
Kelli was a two-time participant of the UAB Birmingham Health Administration Case Competition where she gained in-depth knowledge in the area of safety-net hospitals and physician alignment strategies. Formerly, Kelli was a Patient Relations Representative for The University of North Carolina HealthCare System where she closely monitored patient satisfaction and service recovery through Press Ganey.
Kelli has traveled to South Africa, Ghana, & Costa Rica where she researched and published works on the availability of mental health services to Apartheid, studied the effects of aflatoxin and other mycotoxins on West African agricultural crops, and the socio-economic benefits of eco-tourism within the Costa Rican rain forest and coastal region, respectively. Kelli is a published author in the Journal of LabAnimal: “Lack of Efficacy of Injectable Ketamine with Xylazine or Diazepam for Anesthesia in Chickens”, LabAnimal May, 2004.
Gbomai is very passionate about having Kelli join GBF as an advisor after they connected through the American College of Heatlhcare Executives.
Meridith Safer Guardino, Advisory Panel
Meredith Safer Guardino began working in Liberia in 2008 as Program Director for Health System Strengthening at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Working in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), she helped develop policy, procedures and targeted initiatives to improve Liberia’s health systems. As part of her work, she provided technical assistance to the Bomi County Health and Social Welfare Team during which she met Gbomai. After leaving CHAI, Meredith consulted on social justice projects in Liberia; establishing prison health and social welfare services as part of the new ten-year MOHSW Policy and Plan. She recently co-founded SparTree Solutions, a consulting group that specializes in challenges where public health and justice intersect. Meredith's prior experience includes policy and field work on protection and assistance to older refugees at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Switzerland, Jordan and Syria following five years working in Global Operations at JPMorgan Chase. |
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She received her Bachelor of Arts in Russian literature and language from Reed College and her Masters of Public Health from Yale University. Meredith has published on developing a health accreditation system and rebuilding human resources in Liberia in the Global Public Health and Human Resources for Health Journals. Additional publications can be found in the Journal of Geriatric Nursing and the American Journal of Public Health.
Dr. Rigo Fraterne Muhayangabo, Advisory Panel
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Dr. Rigo Fraterne Muhayangabo, a Congolese national, works in The Republic of Liberia as an expatriate doctor and Medical Coordinator via the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Kolahun. Aside from his duties as a general surgeon, he is also responsible for developing the monitoring and evaluation plan following the Ministry of Health and IRC indicators pertaining to primary and secondary health care in Liberia. Additionally, his role intersects with implementing various health initiatives and projects as dictated by the European Development Fund in the Kolahun, Voinjama, and Foya districts of Lofa County, Liberia.
Before his commitment to the IRC, Dr. Rigo resided in Sinoe County as the Surgeon and Health Coordinator for Merlin-Liberia, where he coordinated the delivery of BPHS (Basic Primary Health Services) to FJGrante Memorial Hospital and 10 Merlin supported clinics, among other duties.
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As a medical doctor he has trained various hospital teams across continental Africa from the Congo, to Rwanda in the departments of HIV/AIDS, Malaria Control, Tuberculosis, and Quality Assurance, Paediatrics, and Internal Medicine. As a surgeon he has mastered the skill needed to perform various gynaecological and general surgeries.
Dr. Rigo completed his undergraduate medical studies at the Bukavu Catholic University in 2004. He then obtained a complementary Master in General Surgery in Magenta, Italy. Further, he pursued a Master in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Humanitarian International Aid Center in Proyecto Kalu, Spain. Recently he obtained a diploma in Public Health & Assessing Public Health in Emergency Situations at the Universite Catholique de Lovain in Belgium. Dr. Rigo speaks 7 languages that include French, Italian, English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, and Lingala. Currently, Dr. Rigo resides in Kolahun, Lofa County. He is married with 6 children including triplet daughters.
Dr. Rhoda Nohn Roberts-Peters, Advisory Panel
In 2009, Dr. Rhoda Peters, a Liberian national, was commissioned as Medical Director for the Liberia Government Hospital in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, where she presently resides and works. Before this position she served as the County Health Officer (CHO) in the Bomi County Health Team for a period of one year.
After obtaining her diploma from the Sanniquellie Central High School, in a quest for higher education, she enrolled at the Cuttington University in Suakoko, Bong County, later transferring to the University of Liberia, where she completed her undergraduate studies and obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Zoology with minor in Chemistry in 1988. Upon graduation, she enrolled at the A. M. Dogliotti College of Medicine, University of Liberia in 1989. At the height of the Liberian Civil War, she was forced to discontinue her studies in 1990 and flee to Sanniquellie, Nimba County where she worked at the St. Mary’s Clinic as a Screener for one year and later fled to the Republic of Cote Ivoire in 1994 where she resided for four years as refugee.
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With her education, she found opportunities to work that included employment at the Protestant Methodist Resource Center and the International Community School of Abdijan as a Biology Instructor and Teaching Assistant, respectively.
In 1998, she returned to Liberia to continue her studies at the A. M. Dogliotti College of Medicine, University of Liberia. She graduated as a Medical Doctor in General Medicine on April 4, 2007. Following her medical degree, she has worked at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, a Government Referral Hospital, the Phebe Medical Center inSuakoko, Bong County, and the Redemption Hospital.
Dr. Rhoda Peters currently resides in Bomi County. She is happily married with four children.
Kolaco Acqui, Advisory Panel
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Kolaco Acqui was born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia West Africa and relocated the United States to further her education, obtaining an undergraduate degree in Business Administration/Finance and an MBA in Finance and Human Resources Management.
Ms. Acqui is an advocate for change and growth globally, with an extensive background in research, analytics, financial planning and corporate process improvement. Her career has spanned both the Financial/Insurance and Fashion Industries domestically and internationally where she has utilized her innate skills.
Kolaco is an active member in several community based organizations. Currently, she is a volunteer for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) where she advocates for the safety and well being of foster care children and youth as they grow up in loving and permanent homes where they can thrive. |
In addition, she is the Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Nehemiah Condo Association managing more than 144 shareholders/homeowners, an executive member of the African American Women in Entertainment for Peace, Youth Empowerment and cultural change (AAW Peace), a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated as well as a member of Who’s Who Amongst American Colleges and Universities. With this experience, Ms. Acqui is ecstatic to bring her wealth of knowledge and vast experience to the GBF team whose trajectory for change and growth in her homeland of Liberia is needed immediately and can be utilized to educate and empower the women and children.
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