Sammie implemented the pilot micro-credit program that marked the inception of Lumana in 2008, which occurred through meeting members of the Atorkor Development Foundation in Ghana. She has been the driver of Lumana’s strategic expansion ever since. Sammie is Lumana's operations director, overseeing the implementation of programs and communication between teams in Ghana and the US as well as managing the organization's finance and accounting systems. In addition to keeping the back-end in check, Sammie loves introducing new people to Lumana, maintaining relationships with supporters and encouraging young people to get involved in social entrepreneurship through Lumana's Fellows Program. Sammie has a BA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business with a focus on international business and French. Sammie began her path toward founding Lumana when looking for ways to use her business degree to do good in the world. She was struck by the powerful concept of microfinance and wanted to be a part of spreading it to rural areas in Africa where there was - and still is - a great need for funding.

Cole Hoover is co-founder of Lumana and currently works as the Director of Programs ensuring that Lumana's projects in Ghana are strategically planned while leveraging the support of team members and community supporters around the world. Cole also leads the fellowship program which connects young leaders from many different countries with hands on experiences working with our microcredit programs in Ghana. He became involved in Lumana to combine his love for people and travel with the belief that the millennial generation is strategically poised to achieve emerging goals of the twenty-first century. Cole began his career as an organizer and educator by helping to found a start up called Your Revolution which created applications for online voter registration during the 2008 election. Since then he has worked with a team building a social network for renewable energy coalitions, as a volunteer coordinator for Real Change magazine's Initiative 100 and as an outreach coordinator for several local political campaigns.

Cole is a member of the board of directors for the Young Professionals International Network a subset of the World Affairs Council, a World Economic Forum "Global Shaper" and a featured social entrepreneur in the 6 month exhibit “Looking Forward: the new heroes” as part of the Seattle Centers Next 50 Celebration. Cole is also a part time faculty member at the University of Washington Bothell teaching a course on leadership in social enterprises. When Cole isn't traveling to Ghana he currently lives in Seattle where he works for Lumana full time and enjoys all the awesome beauty the Northwest has to offer.

Eric currently acts as Lumana's Director of Operations in Ghana.  He monitors the effectiveness of Lumana's programs, interacts with the community, and oversees Lumana's growth.  Eric began work with Lumana as the International Fellows Coordinator in the summer of 2011. Besides managing the fellows, he headed up impact evaluation, developed new loan products, and helped Lumana extend credit to additional clients. Before Lumana, he worked with microcredit and gardening programs in Mozambique, studied microcredit in The Philippines, and lived in Mexico. Eric has an MA in international development from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

Eric is the Loan Officer for all our cooperatives in the Anlo region. Prior to working with Lumana, he worked with agriculture cooperatives in the area, helping with the administrative side of a Millenium Foundation agric development project. He hopes to continue his work in rural areas and be an exemplar of how aspiring Ghanaians don't have to move to the big city, but can make a difference in their hometowns.

Richard is our Field Officer. He spends most of his time collecting payments from clients and keeping our loan tracking software up to date. Richard has worked with outreach groups to inform the rural populace about the importance of the Ghanaian Census, and has a wealth of people skills. He will move to the North to attend university in two years.

Mercy is our Assistant Loan Officer. She's really an assistant to the loan officer, but we didn't feel like making the distinction. She has been keeping us and our office organized, and has especially put in time ensuring that our client on-boarding process is smooth.

Kate is a Seattle University graduate with a major in international relations, history, and Japanese. Over the summer Kate put together Lumana's annual benefit dinner, and now acts as Operations Manager. She grew up in Camas, WA, with her parents and many pets. Kate spent the fall of 2010 studying abroad in Uppsala, Sweden, where she focused her studies on politics and international development. Her parents are currently living in Saudi Arabia, and she often visits them and travels with them in the Middle East. Travel and experiencing different cultures are her true passion. Kate hopes to be able to make it to all seven continents in her life (she is currently up to four). Besides current work with Lumana, Kate is also an intern for iLEAP.

Duffy serves as Lumana's Technology Director: his major projects include introducing and maintaining MIFOS to manage our client information, developing an internal system to manage media including client photos and stories, and developing designing and maintaining this website.

Duffy started with Lumana as a visitor in October 2009. Before working with Lumana, he was the co-founder and lead engineer at SolarCycle, a company focused on solar cookers and solar water treatment devices. Duffy met the Lumana team earlier in Seattle while representing SolarCycle in the University of Washington's Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition.

Duffy received a B.S. in Engineering and Physics from Brown University in 2008. Before that, he was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. In addition to Milwaukee, Seattle and Ghana he has lived in Providence, RI; Boston, MA; and Pemba, Mozambique.

Michael Kaemingk jumped aboard in December of 2010 after happening upon Sammie at a Global Washington Conference, and is now Lumana's project manager. He currently manages Lumana's Fellows program and grant writing process.  As a fellow, his original focus centered around outreach efforts to local universities. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of outreach and organizational tasks, ranging from writing and editing, to attending Lumana community events.  Michael is a Seattle University graduate with BA in Economics with a specialization in international economic development. As a former member of SU's debate team, Michael is passionate about synthesizing and communicating important ideas and events to the widest audience possible. He currently resides in Seattle and can never pass up a game of chess.

Erin Williams became involved with Lumana in Spring 2010 after meeting the founding team, whose mission and passion inspired a call to action within her. Currently, Erin acts as special events coordinator for Lumana, utilizing her background in communication, global health and her skill of networking. Erin became especially involved during the planning months of the Annual Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction and will continue this year with procurement, sponsorship and auction logistics. In addition, Erin will travel to Ghana in May – June 2011 to assist in a KCTS9 documentary showcasing Lumana’s work in country and highlighting clients. Having lived in Ghana for 6 months in 2008, Erin has an innate love for the country, the people and the opportunity to make a difference. When in Ghana, Erin taught math and English at a secondary school and introduced the first sex education course to the nearby vocational school. Erin received her BA from the University of San Francisco in 2007. She has traveled and volunteered in South Africa and Ghana. Currently, Erin works as a program assistant at PATH (Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health) in the vaccine department, specializing in diarrheal diseases.

Justine Levesque served on the Lumana Board of Advisors as the organization's accountant from December 2010 until October 2011 when she took on the role of Director of Operations in Ghana. Under her current role, Justine manages the ongoing development of a client pipeline and expansionary needs, conducts and oversees due diligence and monitoring, and collaborates with key microfinance, social enterprise, and university partners in West Africa. Before joining the Lumana team, she spent three years working as a CPA with a focus on not for profit clients for Moss Adams LLP, a public accounting firm headquartered in Seattle. She still maintains her license in the state of Washington. During her undergraduate career at the University of Portland, Justine became passionate about the power of microfinance and organized trips for groups of University students to rural areas of Nicaragua & Mexico in order to expose them to the benefits of microfinace within group cooperatives. Justine is excited to be in Ghana where her love for music, soccer and spending time with family are widely shared.

Chris Randall serves as the Media and Outreach Coordinator in Ghana as of October 2011, working to gather client stories and scout out partnerships for Lumana’s future expansion. A graduate of the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, Chris greatly enjoys travel, having previously backpacked through Europe and Australia and spent some time living in Edinburgh, Scotland. Chris became involved with Lumana after meeting Cole in May 2010 through a mutual friend and expressing interest in microfinance. When the opportunity arose to further explore his passions for writing and photography in Ghana in a media-oriented role, he jumped at the chance. During his time in Ghana, Chris hopes to expand upon his interest in music by exploring new genres, developing his palate for new cuisine and working more with video to further develop his skills.

Jessica Gada is Lumana's newest Field Officer in the Anlo Region. Her
duties include visiting Cooperatives for Repayment Meetings as well as
working with local and foreign staff to support operations in Ghana.
She grew up in the nearby town of Keta and previously held the
position of Accountant at a local school called Emmanuel School
Complex. In her free time, Jessica greatly enjoys swimming, working
with computers and experiencing the delight that is local Ghanaian
cuisine.