Our U.S. leadership team has extensive experience living and working in other countries, and they have a passion for partnering with local communities to address entrenched issues. They come from various Fortune 500 companies and successful entrepreneurial ventures so know, and are committed to, good management practices.

Lisa Robinson-Spader
Founder & President
Kenya/Ukraine Project Lead
Lisa is a dreamer and visionary who’s passionate about making a direct impact. She studied Economic Development at Harvard and thrills to see it take shape in real communities.

LeeMin Chong
Founder & Vice-President
South India Project Lead
LeeMin wants to leverage her MBA and program management experience to come alongside those who strive to break the vicious cycle of poverty, helping them reach their dreams.

Arlene Chua Say Soto
Founder & Secretary
Honduras Project Lead
Growing up in the Philippines, Arlene saw extreme poverty on a daily basis. Blessed with parents who gave her the gift of a good education, she now uses it to help others.

Daniel Higbie
Board Member & Peru Project Lead
Daniel’s passion for international work and helping others grew out of his experiences as a child in Egypt. He went on to receive a Masters in International Relations and founded and runs an award-winning business in Albuquerque. He is committed to world-class excellence and pragmatism.

Katharina Root
Treasurer
Katharina was blessed to grow up an Anglo minority on the Navajo and Sioux Reservations. She currently is an accountant with her own business specializing in non-profit accounting. Katharina wants to be part of something bigger than herself and is excited to be joining the Global Pearls team.

Christina Palastanga Gardiner
Board Member
Christina was born to a British father and German mother, and she lived in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany before moving to the United States. She has maintained her European roots and brings this cultural perspective as well as successful business experience and extensive nonprofit work to our board.

Kylie Perdomo
Guatemala Project Lead
From an early age, Kylie learned the joy of serving others in a local food kitchen. She began using social media as a tool to help others as the ambassador for the National Haitian Amputee Soccer Team. After an internship in Guatemala with Global Pearls, she decided to join the Global Pearls team.

Lynda Myers
Editor
Before retirement in 2016, Lynda Myers, PhD (Philosophy), taught for thirty-nine years at Saint John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, where discussion-based classes foster critical thinking skills, shared problem-solving, and cooperative learning. Her travels included a year in Guangzhou, China as a Senior Visiting Scholar.

Patricia Erdmann
Malawi Project Lead
For seven years, Patricia taught Educational Leadership & Management to university students in Malawi each fall along with leading a girls’ empowerment club for secondary students. Those experiences have shown her the importance of nurturing opportunities for women and children worldwide.

Mary Joy
North India Project Lead
Mary was born in India where she still has numerous relatives. She garnered many impressive awards as a student at Dartmouth College and now does industry research for software engineering organizations.

John Carlson
Cameroon Project Lead
John Carlson has worked at multiple Fortune 500 companies, most recently at Meta Inc (Facebook) as a program manager. He has travelled extensively through his professional career and has a passion for operational efficiency.