OTTAWA, 16 December 2019 – After a comprehensive international search, the CARE Canada Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Barbara Grantham will join the organization as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Barbara, who is currently the President and CEO of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, is an executive with more than 30 years of leadership in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors across Canada.
CARE Canada Board Chair Ken Sunquist expressed great excitement at the appointment. “With her exceptional track record of philanthropic leadership and resource development, as well as her deep commitment for truly engaging Canadians in the issues that matter most to them, Barbara is ideally positioned to lead CARE Canada. She is a focused, team-oriented leader with a passion for driving and measuring results. We know that she and the CARE Canada team are a great fit.”
“I am thrilled to be joining CARE Canada as CEO and look forward to getting to know the CARE team, its partners, donors, volunteers and the program participants who are essential for its success,” said Grantham. “I am honoured to be joining a respected organization that plays a leadership role in facilitating the conversation for Canadians on how all of us best serve as global citizens. We live in a complicated time. The landscape for Canadian charities is changing rapidly. The international context is complex, for the migration crisis, lack of food security, gender inequality and poverty are global challenges. The work of CARE, here in Canada and around the world, and its mission of a more equal world for all, has never been more relevant and essential.”
Barbara has held executive positions with some of Canada’s foremost non-profit organizations, including the Vancouver Foundation, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the StreetoHome Foundation. She also established and ran her own highly successful consulting practice. In 2016, she was named one of Women’s Executive Network’s annual Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. Most recently, she received the 2019 AFP Lifetime Achievement in Fundraising Award in recognition of her decades of philanthropic leadership. She holds a BA degree from Queen’s University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Carleton University.
“Barbara is coming on board as CARE Canada embarks on a new strategic plan and the CARE International Confederation begin collaboration on a new long-term vision for continuing to fight inequality,” added Sunquist. “There are great challenges and opportunities ahead and we know that the experience and leadership that she brings will help CARE continue to promote gender equality, lifting women, girls and their families out of poverty and crisis. Together we will continue to seek a world of hope, inclusion and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security.”
Grantham will assume the position in April 2020, taking over from Interim President and CEO Mara O’Brien James.
CARE has spokespeople available. For media inquiries, please contact:
Lama Alsafimedia@care.ca | 613-228-5641
About CARE Canada
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE develops solutions alongside women and girls in developing countries to lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty and out of crisis. CARE stands with women and girls around the world in economic empowerment. We bring women, girls, and their communities together to challenge inequality while facing issues like food insecurity, climate change, and emergency relief in times of crisis or disaster. CARE works in 100 countries around the world.
To learn more about CARE Canada, visit www.care.ca.