Jonathan Lifa
Title: Public and Government Affairs Africa Coordinator
Company/Organization: Chevron Corporation
Program: East African Refugee Program (EARP)
Degree: Secondary Level
Year Completed: 1967
Jonathan Lifa is the Public and Government Affairs Africa Coordinator for the Chevron Corporation, responsible for helping the company to establish new venture opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Mozambican by birth, he joined Chevron in 1978 and has consistently demonstrated a significant commitment to advancing the company's community education programs. Mr. Lifa was instrumental in encouraging Chevron and its partners, including the national oil company, Sonangol, to construct schools in Angola's Cabinda Province, despite the ongoing civil war in that country.
Mr. Lifa has previously served on the California-based Bakersfield College Board of Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA), a program that encourages high school minority students to study mathematics and the sciences in preparation for further studies and careers in engineering. He also continues to support the development of higher education in Africa, serving on the Advisory Board of the Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Between 1963 and 1967, Mr. Lifa received and AAI-administered scholarship to attend a training program at the Kurasini International Education Center (KIEC), located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under AAI's East African Refugee Program (EARP). In early 1973, he came to the United States, where he attended California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California and where he earned a Bachelor's of Science in agricultural engineering.