Queh Somah Paygai Sr., PhD, the author, was born on July 6, 1958, in the city of Monrovia, Liberia. Both of his parents hailed from Grand Bassa County, Liberia. His background includes serving as chairman of the National Investment Commission of the Republic of Liberia (1998-2003). He was responsible to promote, encourage, and coordinate all investment activities in Liberia and provided general policy guidance in the formulation of plans for the review, evaluation, and collaboration with relevant ministries and agencies of government of all project proposals. He served as member of the Economic Management Advisory Team for the Republic of Liberia and developed a Venture Capital Scheme designed to create income-generating activities for deserving Liberian entrepreneurs and individuals with talents and business ideas but lacked capital and opportunity to participate in main stream economic activities. Dr. Paygai served as associate professor / director of planning and institutional development (1998-2008) at the University of Liberia, College of Business and Public Administration, in the Department of Management. He has a master's degree in educational management at Cambridge College (1991), Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a member of the board of directors (2002-2003) at the Liberia Telecommunication Corporation, Republic of Liberia. He was also a member of the Liberia Government Official Delegation to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Transformation to the African Union (AU) in Durban, South Africa (June 28-July 10, 2002). He was chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, Union of Liberia Associations in the Americas (ULAA), United States of America (1987-1989).
