Katharine Pearson has been with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in Canada, since 1997. She is director of the Foundation's five-year "Social Innovation Generation" initiative, the goal of which is to strengthen understanding of and capacity for social innovation in Canada. She serves on the board of Oxfam-Quebec and the program advisory group of the Foundation of Greater Montreal. Katharine's father was a diplomat and she grew up in India, Mexico and France. The Hon. Lester B. Pearson was her grandfather.