About Us
Liberty & Justice is Africa’s leading Fair Trade Certified™ apparel manufacturing company. We specialize in value chain management for high-volume, time-sensitive, duty-free goods for leading American clothing brands, trading companies, and other importers who care about exceptional quality, on-time delivery, social and environmental impact, and geographic diversity.
Vision: Liberty & Justice is committed to a future in which producers and consumers are completely aligned in making economic choices that result in the eradication of poverty, the responsible stewardship of the environment, and the empowerment of workers through the fair exchange of quality goods and services.
Mission: Liberty & Justice was established to transform the apparel supply chain from worker exploitation and environmental degradation to partnership and sustainability.
- 2011 SVN Social Innovation Award Winner
- 90% Female Workforce
- First GIIRS Five Star Rated Company
- First Fair Trade Certified™ Factory in Africa
Governance
L&J is committed to conducting business with integrity and to embed measurable social and environmental impact considerations into the company’s corporate and risk management strategies. The company continues to implement proven best practices in corporate governance with an emphasis on transparency. Currently 25% of the company’s directors are women and 25% are independent. Fewer than 50% of L&J’s directors own or represent an organization that owns greater than 5% of the company.
The Board of Directors and management will continue to uphold its corporate governance culture and standards, with a focus on profitability while benefiting all stakeholders in a sustainable manner.
Current investors can contact us for a copy of our financial reports
Co-founders
Chid Liberty
CEO
Chid co-founded Liberty & Justice after a short career in technology and finance. He was born in Liberia, West Africa, but left as an infant when his father became the nation’s ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, with residence in Bonn. His family was later exiled in the United States. In 2009, Chid returned to Africa after 28 years abroad. Inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Liberian Women’s Peace Movement, Chid co-founded Africa’s first Fair Trade Certified economic opportunities for internally displaced women, who on balance, were vulnerable to rampant unemployment and economic exclusion. He is currently leading L&J’s rapid expansion in Liberia and throughout the region.
In addition to his work at Liberty & Justice, Chid served as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Liberia’s Monrovia Business Startup Center. He also speaks internationally on social innovation and entrepreneurship – most recently at Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton Universities, as well as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and IE in Madrid, Spain.
Chid was recognized by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her 2011 State of the Nation Address for his leadership in shaping trade policy and indigenous African entrepreneurship. He is a recipient of the 2011 SVN Social Innovation Award, a 2010 Cordes Fellow, a 2009 BALLE Fellow, a Yoxi Portfolio SIR (Social Innovation Rockstar) and works as an advisor to leading organizations addressing global challenges including Fair Trade USA, GIIRS (the Global Impact Investment Rating System), More than Me, and the Opportunity Collaboration.
Adam Butlein
Co-Founder
Adam is a serial entrepreneur, third-generation start-up founder, specializing in innovative start-ups and disruptive creativity, challenging conventional wisdom to deliver business benefits from otherwise undervalued assets. Founding Liberty and Justice was Adam’s first foray into social entrepreneurship – having demonstrated a longstanding commitment to philanthropy and social justice, this social venture was a perfect marriage of Adam’s entrepreneurial mind, philanthropic heart, and people-first value orientation. His tenacity and persistence are among the most critical assets he contributed to Liberty and Justice in the early years – not to mention his considerable network and impassioned vision which secured crucial venture-philanthropy to support the fledgling start-up and the Liberian women who so closely tied their fate to its success.
Prior to founding Liberty & Justice, Adam pioneered new ventures and sales territory for numerous multi-million dollar companies. He has a demonstrated track record of success as a leading sales executive for smart home automation start-up Techteriors and forged new sales terrain, opening up new markets for Federal Building Services. Adam has a keen artistic eye and began his professional career as a fine-art photographer. A student of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Adam incorporates visual sensibilities into his growing portfolio that includes work for several highly visible retail brands including Victoria’s Secret, Parisians Catalog, Dupont Lycra, Coca-Cola, and Kodak.
Most committed to his accomplishments on the home front, Adam is the proud father of daughter Presley Bijou and counts his blessings for his best friend, love of his life, and wife Katrina. In his increasingly scarce free time, Adam sits on the Board of Directors of Tikkun Olam, a private foundation where he oversees grants and investments in numerous projects and organizations addressing some of the globe’s most pressing social issues.
Board of Directors
Andy Lower
Chairman of the Board/Executive, Finance, and Compensation Committees
Andy joined the Eleos Foundation as Executive Director in December 2008. He moved to Eleos from the international philanthropic advisory firm Geneva Global Inc, where he served as North American Advisory Manager. While at Geneva Global Inc., Andy provided philanthropic investment advice to the firm’s key U.S. and Middle East-based clients and spearheaded a number of multi-million dollar international partnership initiatives. He has worked in a variety of different sectors in the developing world throughout his career, and maintains specialinterest in working with community based organizations.Prior to Geneva Global, Andy worked with a number of U.K. and internationally based non-governmental organizations. He has traveled extensively, working with national partners throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Andy is a British national, holding a Masters Degree in International Development from London-based Middlesex University, and an Undergraduate Degree in Law from University of Southampton, UK.
Josh Mailman
Director/Executive, Finance, and Compensation Committee
Josh is the founder of the Threshold Foundation, a national network of individuals with inherited wealth who have an interest in using that wealth as a positive force for advancing a more just and sustainable world. He also founded the Social Venture Network U.S., Europe, and Asia, which is an international network of socially driven businesspeople. He is a co- founder of Business for Social Responsibility, a co-founder of Grameen Phone, Bangladesh; a founding director and trustee of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, U.K.; and a board member of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the Fund for Global Human Rights, Blacksmith Institute, and the Museum for African Art. Josh is also the managing director of Serious Change Investments; an impact venture capital fund focused on investing and growing visionary companies and helped create Jalia Ventures, a fund focused on putting early stage capital into the hands of inspired black entrepreneurs running impact ventures.
Heather Hiles
Director/Governance and Audit Committees
Heather is the CEO and Founder of Pathbrite. Her leadership experience spans over 15 years, during which she has founded and led several private and public sector organizations. Her roster of leadership roles includes being the former Commissioner of San Francisco Unified School District, Executive Director of Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), CEO of Hiles Group (a philanthropy consultancy firm), Co-Founder of EARN (Individual Development Accounts program), CEO – SFWorks (NGO to place women from welfare into careers) and COO – Break the Cycle (K-3rd grade tutorial program). Heather currently serves on the board of Leadership Public Schools; Social Venture Network; and three startup companies. Heather received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her MBA from Yale University.
Michael Kleinmann
Director/Governance and Audit Committees
Michael Kleinmann has been a visionary in the apparel industry for several years, consulting, speaking and writing about upcoming trends via his blog – The Underwear Expert, in Cosmopolitan and DNR fashion magazines, The New York Times and The New York Post, and others major news outlets. His expertise extends across both the men’s and women’s markets in fabrication, design, e-commerce, marketing, and customer service. Michael became the president of Freshpair.com in 2002 and drew on his information technology and digital branding background to assemble a world-class team and establish an adaptive, consumer-friendly, leading edge e-commerce site. Kleinmann’s entrepreneurial spirit and creative marketing helped Freshpair to quickly become a recognized force in the intimate apparel industry. Michael is also co-founder of National Underwear Day.
Sharon Chang
Director/Governance Committee
Sharon Chang is a media executive, social entrepreneur, impact investor and philanthropist. For the last several years, Sharon has been developing various entities to support, invest in and promote bold entrepreneurs with transformational business ideas to drive societal impact. Her latest creation is Yoxi, a boutique talent investment firm that combines financial investment and talent management to develop Social Innovation Rockstars. Before founding Yoxi, Sharon was the Chief Creative Officer of 19 Entertainment, the company behind popular TV shows American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. She has also worked as a brand strategist and creative director in a number of prestigious global agencies, with over 16 years of experience leading major branding and design initiatives for clients such as Pepsi, Ford, Sony, Motorola, Cadillac, Estee Lauder, P&G, TED, Starwood Hotels, Universal Music, CNN and Hulu. In addition, Sharon serves on the Board of Trustees of New York University, and is a board member of a number of non-profit organizations, technology startups, and social ventures.
Sean Ansett
Director/Social Audit Committee
Sean Ansett is a senior sustainability professional with over 15 years experience. Sean currently provides strategic advice to corporations, social start-ups, UN agencies and Non-profit organizations on ethical trade, human rights and environmental sustainability globally through his advisory firm At Stake Advisors in London, UK. He is an Editorial Board member of Ethical Corporation Magazine, a Wisdom Council Member of Hub Madrid and advises social enterprises Fairphone, LaborVoices and UpstreamIs. Sean Ansett was the Director of Corporate Responsibility at Burberry in London and previously he was the Director of Global Partnerships at Gap Inc. where he led Gap Inc.’s corporate responsibility and stakeholder engagement strategy related to labor, environmental and human rights issues. Sean is a returned United States Peace Corps and World Food Program volunteer. Sean has a Masters degree in Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge, UK.
Adam Butlein
Co-Founder/Compensation Committee
Adam is a serial entrepreneur, third-generation start-up founder, specializing in innovative start-ups and disruptive creativity, challenging conventional wisdom to deliver business benefits from otherwise undervalued assets. Founding Liberty and Justice was Adam’s first foray into social entrepreneurship – having demonstrated a longstanding commitment to philanthropy and social justice, this social venture was a perfect marriage of Adam’s entrepreneurial mind, philanthropic heart, and people-first value orientation. His tenacity and persistence are among the most critical assets he contributed to Liberty and Justice in the early years – not to mention his considerable network and impassioned vision which secured crucial venture-philanthropy to support the fledgling start-up and the Liberian women who so closely tied their fate to its success.
Prior to founding Liberty & Justice, Adam pioneered new ventures and sales territory for numerous multi-million dollar companies. He has a demonstrated track record of success as a leading sales executive for smart home automation start-up Techteriors and forged new sales terrain, opening up new markets for Federal Building Services. Adam has a keen artistic eye and began his professional career as a fine-art photographer. A student of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Adam incorporates visual sensibilities into his growing portfolio that includes work for several highly visible retail brands including Victoria’s Secret, Parisians Catalog, Dupont Lycra, Coca-Cola, and Kodak.
Most committed to his accomplishments on the home front, Adam is the proud father of daughter Presley Bijou and counts his blessings for his best friend, love of his life, and wife Katrina. In his increasingly scarce free time, Adam sits on the Board of Directors of Tikkun Olam, a private foundation where he oversees grants and investments in numerous projects and organizations addressing some of the globe’s most pressing social issues.
Chid Liberty
CEO Secretary/Treasurer
Chid co-founded Liberty & Justice after a short career in technology and finance. He was born in Liberia, West Africa, but left as an infant when his father became the nation’s ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, with residence in Bonn. His family was later exiled in the United States. In 2009, Chid returned to Africa after 28 years abroad. Inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Liberian Women’s Peace Movement, Chid co-founded Africa’s first Fair Trade Certified economic opportunities for internally displaced women, who on balance, were vulnerable to rampant unemployment and economic exclusion. He is currently leading L&J’s rapid expansion in Liberia and throughout the region.
In addition to his work at Liberty & Justice, Chid served as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Liberia’s Monrovia Business Startup Center. He also speaks internationally on social innovation and entrepreneurship – most recently at Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton Universities, as well as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and IE in Madrid, Spain.
Chid was recognized by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her 2011 State of the Nation Address for his leadership in shaping trade policy and indigenous African entrepreneurship. He is a recipient of the 2011 SVN Social Innovation Award, a 2010 Cordes Fellow, a 2009 BALLE Fellow, a Yoxi Portfolio SIR (Social Innovation Rockstar) and works as an advisor to leading organizations addressing global challenges including Fair Trade USA, GIIRS (the Global Impact Investment Rating System), More than Me, and the Opportunity Collaboration.