SBIG Board of Trustees
Matthew L. Killian – Business Development and Strategy for Ridgeline, a fintech enterprise software startup founded by Dave Duffield focused on the asset management industry. Since joining SBIG, Matthew has managed the organization of book drives at The Delbarton School and other schools and libraries in NJ, and recruited his classmates on multiple trips to SBIG’s five schools in Ghana. He is involved in SBIG’s fundraising efforts, and in the fall of 2014, organized a 16-mile run as a member of the Amherst Lacrosse team to raise almost $30,000 for SBIG. In 2021, Matthew was elected as SBIG’s Treasurer and runs the SBIG website. Before Ridgeline, Matthew worked on the High Yield Capital Markets and Leveraged Finance desks at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Stifel Financial Corp in New York City. He holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and BA from Amherst College in Massachusetts.
Richard Killian – Chief of Party for the ACQUIRE Tanzania Project (ATP) based in Dar es Salaam. ATP is the flagship family planning partner for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Tanzania. Mr. Killian was previously the Project Director/Chief of party for 5 years for EngenderHealth’s Quality Health Partners project (QHP) in Ghana. While in Ghana, he served on the Board of the Trustees for the Ghana International School that has been very supportive of SBIG’s efforts in Ghana. Mr. Killian is a seasoned international health professional with almost 30 years of experience in the U.S. and Africa. He has a BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Master of Health Care Administration degree from George Washington University. Mr. Killian has been involved with SBIG since its formation and participated in most of the group visits to Ghana. .
Tom Killian – Partner at Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. Tom Killian’s 36-year career in commercial and investment banking includes seven years of commercial banking experience with NationsBank, structuring and arranging leveraged finance transactions; two years with Salomon Brothers, transacting capital markets and advisory assignments for a variety of major corporations; five years with J.P. Morgan, managing financial advisory and capital raising activities for banks and thrifts in the Western region of the United States; and 22 years with Sandler O’Neill, advising banks, thrifts, and insurance companies, a variety of capital markets, strategic advisory and M&A assignments. At Sandler O’Neill, Tom has managed the successful execution of over $8.2 billion of capital raising transactions. He has co-managed the Sandler O’Neill team responsible for successfully completing 17 pooled trust preferred transactions, raising over $7 billion for approximately 650 financial institutions. He functions as a primary resource in structuring and implementing complex capital markets transactions for financial institutions. Tom attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a John Motley Morehead Merit Scholarship and is a graduate of both UNC-Chapel Hill (1979) and Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (1985). He has been a speaker at industry and regulatory conferences (including the Federal Reserve Bank, FDIC, Western Independent Bankers, UNC Banking Institute, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission) on issues impacting financial institutions and capital markets. His articles have appeared in the journal for Bank Accounting & Finance, U.S. Banker and Modern Bankers, a publication of the Peoples Bank of China. He is a founding member of SBIG and currently acts as President of the Board of Trustees.
Thomas Killian, Jr. – Vice President at Basin Holdings, an energy and industrial company based out of New York City. Previously served as an analyst and associate in the Investment Banking Group at JPMorgan. Mr. Killian has managed the organization of book drives from Delbarton and other schools and libraries in NJ and helped develop the original sbigonline.org
Joe Nyamekye – CEO of three NJ based small businesses Joe Nyamekye was born and raised in Ghana and has now established himself as a successful small business owner with three registered companies in the state of NJ. Joe’s son Kenny attended Delbarton School with Thomas and Matthew Killian and has been an active supported of SBIG efforts for many years. He has been helpful in organizing the shipment of donated books, clothing and other gifts to children at the SBIG schools in Ghana. Joe is also actively involved with the Ghanaian Society of New Jersey 
Tony Appiah – Executive Director at UBS Asset Management (UK Ltd.). Tony was born and raised in Ghana and moved to the US after graduating from high school and is now a US citizen. He holds a BA in Mathematical Economics from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY. Tony is currently a Fixed Income Investment Specialist at UBS in London and has been with the firm since August 2015. In his role, Tony liaises between the firm’s fixed income investment teams and various distribution channels. His responsibilities include developing, managing and servicing client relationships. He also works directly with portfolio management teams across several UBS Asset Management fixed income strategies. Prior to joining UBS AM, Tony held other senior investment roles at UBS Global Wealth Management and Brown Brothers Harriman Private Bank. Tony and his family have been actively involved and supportive of SBIG for many years prior to joining the Board.