Hilary Pearson is President of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, a national network of family, independent and corporate grantmakers in Canada, representing many of the largest private charitable foundations in the country. Since 2001, when she was appointed President, she has grown the organization to become of the leading voices in Canadian organized philanthropy. She has worked at senior levels in all three sectors, with positions in central agencies of the Government of Canada from 1981 to 1993, an executive role at the Royal Bank of Canada from 1993 to 1996 and a senior consultant at the Montreal strategy consulting firm Secor from 1993 to 2001. An expert in nonprofit governance, Ms. Pearson has served on several national boards of directors, including those of Pearson College of the Pacific, Imagine Canada, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, CARE Canada and Indspire. She chairs the Advisory Body of the Coady Institute at St Francis Xavier University and is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Masters Program in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton University. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto, and was granted honourary doctorates by Carleton University and the University of New Brunswick.