Advisory Board

Lyell Holmes

Lyell Holmes served in the United States Marine Corps for 27 years. As an aviator he flew both helicopters and jet fighters. While in the Corps he served in various command/leadership positions including Squadron Commander, Group Commander and Commander/Director of the Marine Corps Communications-Electronics Schools, the largest technical school in the Corps. His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” and gold star in lieu of second award. He retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of Colonel. After his retirement from the Marine Corps he joined the Fluor Corporation, Irvine, California as a Project System Engineer.

Lyell graduated from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, and holds a MS from the University of Southern California, and MA from Webster University. Lyell is fully retired and resides in Irving, Texas with his wife Diane, of 54 years.

Lily Kanter

Co-founder of Serena & Lily, Lily Kanter brings 18 years of experience in business and technology to Serena & Lily. She has held management positions at Microsoft, Deloitte & Touche and IBM. Career highlights include creating the first Microsoft flagship store in downtown San Francisco—a move which earned her the Chairman’s Award from Bill Gates. Philanthropy is a driving force for Lily, and in July 2000 she was featured on the cover of Time magazine as part of the story “The New Philanthropists.” Lily's philanthropic projects include founding Social Venture Partners in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Serena & Lily Foundation, the latter devoted to inspiring kids to change the world. She also co-founded the Sarosi-Kanter Charitable Foundation with her husband Marc.

Lily attended the Executive MBA program at Pepperdine and the Pepperdine Asia Business Program in Hong Kong. She is a Wexner Fellow and a Henry Crown Fellow and holds a BA in Accounting from Arizona State University. Lily lives in Mill Valley, California, and has three boys ages 6, 8 and 10.

Shana Kirsch

Shana Kirsch serves as Director of Operations for the California office of Free The Children, an international non-profit organization. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute for International Studies, and earned a certificate from the Development Project Management Institute in 2008. Prior to her role at Free The Children, Shana worked with the Monitoring & Evaluation team of Search for Common Ground in Cote d’Ivoire.

Shana's passion for development work and West African culture was established during a study abroad program in Mali in 2001, and she has returned to the region several times since then.

Haike Spiller

Haike Spiller owns and manages Mali Yaara Adventure Travel with her Timbuktu-born husband, Male Dioum. She has been involved in education for about 20 years. Born in Berlin, Germany, after graduating with a Masters from New York University’s School of Education, she worked as an educational counselor in several non-profit organizations in New York City. She especially enjoyed working with adolescents, helping them obtain their educational and career goals.

A trip to Mali in 2005 opened up new opportunities, and 2006 she moved there to open a language center for adults. She also owns a consulting business, organizing travel and tours to Mali and surrounding countries.

Irma Turtle

Irma Turtle is a graduate of Smith College. She began working in Africa in 1985, after a career in advertising and publishing in New York from 1974 - 1984. From 1981-1984 she ran a newly acquired agency for Ogilvy and Mather in Brazil. In early 1985, after a trip to the Sahara Desert and a glimpse into the unique lifestyles of nomadic peoples, Irma began Turtle Tours, an adventure travel company which specialized in introducing travelers to remote populations and their unique ways of life. Turtle Tours became inactive in 2002 in order to direct all attention, money and energy to TurtleWill, the humanitarian organization.

Irma Turtle is featured, along with the Dalai Lama, in an international television series called Nomads of the Human Condition.