Schools for Salone is led by a small Seattle-based team and board. 

The Sierra Leonean organizations who lead our work on the ground are introduced on Our Approach page.

Cindy Nofziger

Founder and Senior Advisor

Cindy Nofziger founded Schools for Salone in the fall of 2005. After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in the mid-1980s, she returned to the country decades later and reconnected with friends and colleagues from Masanga. During that trip, Cindy’s friend John Sesay asked if she could help with efforts to rebuild the school in his village that had been destroyed during the war. Cindy raised funds for school construction by selling note cards made from drawings done by local Leonean children. The efforts were successful – a short time later, Cindy was back in the village celebrating with the community and students at the opening of the brand new school. Encouraged by the possibilities, and driven by the unmet need for educational assistance in the country, Cindy launched Schools for Salone to help vulnerable communities all across Sierra Leone.

Allison Sinning

Executive Director
Allison Sinning is the Executive Director for Schools for Salone. She served in the Peace Corps and taught in Sierra Leone from 2010 to 2012. She has experience working with NGOs and social services such as the Peace Corps Liberia, Lutheran Social Services of SD, EmBe, and SfS. Allison is passionate about education, civil rights, and social action.

Joanna Matson

Staff and Data Management

Joanna Mattson serves as SfS’s Finance and Business Information Manager.  She holds a master’s in information management & systems from UC Berkeley and a BA in Economics from the University of Washington. She joined Schools for Salone in 2022.

Board of Directors

Jon Bayley

Secretary/Treasurer

Jon Bayley is the secretary/treasurer for Schools for Salone. He is a career teacher and administrator in public and private schools in Washington State.

After two years as an officer in the U.S. Navy and a two-year MAT program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he was hired as a 7th-8th grade teacher at Thomsen Middle School in Seattle in 1969. A year later, he was hired as the first Middle School Director at Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle.

He held that position for seven years, then, after a year-long sabbatical in southern France with his family, returned to Lakeside as a teacher. In 1985 he became director of the Lakeside Educational Enrichment Program (LEEP), which supports mainly inner-city students in Seattle and helps them make the most of their talents.

In 1993, Jon moved to Bainbridge High School, a public school in his neighborhood, where he taught English and Humanities. He retired in 2003 after a two-year stint as Scholastic Director of America’s Foundation for Chess, where he helped them develop a curriculum that uses chess to support broader academic and social goals.

Emory Brinkman

Board Member

Emory Brinkman was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone. He taught Senior Secondary math in Rotifunk, a small town in the Moyamba District of the Southern Province. When he wasn’t at the school, Emory worked at the local community center, preparing students for the WASSCE (their version of the SATs/ACTs) and introducing them to computer basics.  

Bidemi Carrol

Board Member

Bidemi Carrol, Ph.D, is an international education specialist with over 18 years of experience supporting education reform across Africa. Born and initially educated in Sierra Leone, her commitment to expanding opportunity through education is both personal and professional. She has worked closely with governments, donors, and nonprofit organizations to strengthen education systems, improve teaching and learning, and expand opportunities for underserved children. 

Barbara Herz

Board Member

Barbara Herz, Ph.D., has worked on girls’ education for more than thirty years. In the 1970’s she headed the U.S. Agency for International Development Division responsible for policy in education, health, and population. She was a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN Conference for Women in Copenhagen in 1980. 

Michael Gibbons

Board Member

Michael Gibbons, Ph.D. served as an agricultural extension worker and trainer in Sierra Leone with Peace Corps in the 1970s. He worked in basic education, community development, and social justice in the 1980s and 90s in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and low-income areas of the USA. From 1998 to his retirement in 2019, he served as a director with the Banyan Tree Foundation and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. 

Erica Lane

Board Member

Erica Lane is a nonprofit executive and community engagement leader with more than 15 years of experience advancing equitable access to education and strengthening community-rooted organizations. Born and raised in Seattle, she has built cross-sector partnerships and led fundraising strategies to expand access and support sustainable community impact.

James Mannah

Board Member

James Mannah was born in Sierra Leone, raised in Freetown and went to the Albert Academy. He moved to the United States to attend Wisconsin University where he studied international relations and later moved to San Francisco for graduate school at Golden Gate University where he studied International Business.