Holly McKiernan

Holiday Hart McKiernan is executive vice president, chief operating officer and general counsel for Lumina Foundation. She oversees operations, legal affairs and board governance. Part of her work has included exploring the Bologna Process and the implications that reform effort might have for American higher education. She speaks frequently on legal, governance and policy issues concerning nonprofit organizations and higher education. McKiernan began her career practicing law concentrating on nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations and prior to joining Lumina in 2003 was executive director and counsel for Alpha Chi Omega where she advised universities on approaches to high-risk student behavior.

McKiernan has co-authored several journal articles, including “Making the Implicit Explicit: Demonstrating the Value Added of Higher Education by a Qualifications Framework,” The Journal of College and University Law; “The Changing Landscape of Higher Education: An Analysis of How National Change Might be Brought About in American Higher Education Compared with the Bologna Signatory States,” Education and the Law; and “Trans-Atlantic Ping-Pong and the Bologna Process,” The European University Association Bologna Handbook. She wrote Higher Education and the American Workforce for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges' Trusteeship Magazine.

She serves on the board of directors for Christian Theological Seminary, the Higher Education Resource Services, Inc., Antioch University board of governors, and the Council on Foundations’ public policy committee. She is also on the Indy Chamber’s education and workforce council.

McKiernan received her B.A. from DePauw University and her J.D. from Indiana University. She and her husband reside in Indianapolis and have three grown children.