Board & Staff

BFA Board President Mike Essien is an intellectual property and business attorney and a Principal at Essien Law Office PLLC. In addition to supporting clients with patents, trademarks and counseling needs, he does consulting work supporting research institutions in Africa. His many achievements include being admitted to practice in the State of Minnesota, before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and being a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Ramsey County Bar Association and the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, among others. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he worked as a product development engineer at 3M, and is named inventor on two U.S. patents. In his free time, he volunteers and serves as a board member with several organizations, including Books For Africa, and also serves as board president for the Association of Nigerian Engineers in Minnesota.

President Elect, Tammie Follett, is the Director of Community Relations MSP at Thomson Reuters. She brings over 25+ years of corporate, Thomson Reuters, and nonprofit leadership experience to her new role at Books For Africa. Over the years, she has visited several African countries on behalf of BFA and Africa Classroom Connection. During these visits, Tammie has met with school administrators in South Africa, the Dean of Chancellor College in Malawi, Parliamentary members and Bibliotheca Alexandra Representatives in Egypt, to discuss BFA and the receipt of books and to visit classrooms built by Africa Classroom Connection. Her interest in literacy led her to become the Executive Director of Literacy Matters Foundation in 2020 for a year and a half before returning to Thomson Reuters. Using her passion for supporting children and literacy, Tammie led Literacy Matters Foundation in scaling to meet the literacy needs of schools throughout Minnesota. Throughout the years, Tammie has held leadership roles in organizations such as Books For Africa, Tubman, TeamWomen, Jeremiah, SPARK-Y, Urban League Twin Cities, and Africa Classroom Connection. Tammie is a firm believer in Mentorship and has dedicated her time to being a Mentor for Best Prep, Byte-size Challenge, TeamWomen and Brittany’s Place. She has been awarded Team Women Member of the Year, 25 Women to Watch in Business from Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Business Excellence Award from the University of St. Thomas. Tammie enjoys traveling including hiking to Mt. Everest Base Camp, Kilimanjaro Summit, Patagonia, and Antarctica. She has visited over 75 countries and all 7 continents. She has a B.A. from Lawrence University, a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, and an M.B.A from the University of St. Thomas.

BFA’s Board Secretary, Fatima Lawson, Ph.D. is a school principal with Saint Paul Public Schools.  She is very passionate about education, and is deeply concerned about the state of public education in Nigeria in particular and Africa as a whole.  She believes that no proper education can take place without adequate materials, such as books, which is why she dedicates her time and resources to support an organization like BFA that goes above and beyond expectations to put books in the hands of children, especially the most disenfranchised.  She also a heightened sense of social justice, access and opportunities in educational pursuits for especially women and girls. More importantly, she is a very active member of various community organizations in Minnesota and beyond, which include serving two terms on the board of the Governor’s Council on Minnesotans of African Heritage (CMAH), during which she held offices of vice-chair and treasurer respectively. She is the newly elected board chair for the Minnesota Africans United (MAU), a thriving organization that supports career and economic growth for African Immigrants in Minnesota.  She is an avid reader, debater, public speaker, and has presented in several national and international conferences.

Stephanie Davern has worked within the educational and fundraising space for the past 20 years. She has a passion to ensure that every child has access to and choice of great books not just in the United States, but across the globe. Stephanie works in the educational fundraising industry, where she believes that all schools should have equal access and opportunity. She is currently serving as the treasurer for Books For Africa and is excited to further the mission and end the world book famine. Stephanie holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. She loves to read, cook and enjoy the outdoors.

In 1988, British expatriate Tom Warth visited his friend Loy Zabasajja in Jinja, Uganda. Loy brought Tom to the local library, where books were nearly nonexistent; the few books that remained on the shelf were tattered and decades old. Coming from the publishing industry, Tom was aware of the great surplus of books in America and set about finding a way to put those books in the hands of African learners. Tom’s vision became Books For Africa, which has since grown to be the world’s largest shipper of donated books to the African continent.

Patrick Plonski has served since 2003 as Executive Director of Books For Africa. Plonski holds a PhD in International Education (2009), and previously served as Executive Director of the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council at the University of Minnesota (1998-2003), and Committee Administrator for the Minnesota House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture (1987-1998).