Kevin McCort has lived in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mali but hes keen to move to Vancouver for the first time to connect with his roots.
Its a tremendous opportunity to get back into community development work which is where I started and where Ive really enjoyed my work internationally, where you can visit grant recipients and partner organizations day in, day out, McCord said. Theyre not 5,000 miles away.
McCort will replace Faye Wightman as president and chief executive officer of Vancouver Foundation mid September.
McCort will relocate with his wife and three teenaged children from Ottawa, where he served for six years as president and CEO of CARE Canada, Canadas leading development and humanitarian aid organization, programming $150 million annually in more than 30 countries. He joined CARE in 1992 and served for five years as a member of its emergency response unit. He was deployed to hot spots that include Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda. McCort has lived, worked, or visited more than 50 countries and has extensive knowledge about the politics, economics and social issues of more than 30 countries where CARE Canada works. He sits on the board of Imagine Canada and is the chair of the board of the Humanitarian Coalition, an organization he co-founded in 2005 to bring together Canadas leading aid agencies to finance relief efforts during international humanitarian crises.
McCort was awarded a Queens Diamond Jubilee medal in February for his leadership in promoting Canadas values of tolerance and social justice across the world.
With almost 1,500 funds and assets totaling $814 million, Vancouver Foundation is Canadas largest community foundation. In 2012, the foundation and its donors made more than 4,000 grants, totaling approximately $46 million to registered charities across Canada. Recipients include social service agencies, medical research groups and organizations devoted to arts and culture, the environment, education, children and families, disability supports for employment, youth issues and animal welfare.
McCort said on the phone from his childrens soccer games in Ottawa, that he looks forward to furthering the foundations focus on engaging citizens and addressing youth homelessness as well as supporting a broad range of community-driven projects.
He believes his connections could bring more money, expertise and opportunities for collaboration to Vancouver Foundation.
The 47-year-old and his wife are to visit Vancouver Sunday to search for a home. They plan to search in North Vancouver.
Ive got friends all over the city and anybody I speak to says you should live in my neighbourhood, he said.
Wightman says shes been working for 42 years, the foundation that shes led for eight years is strong and she wants to leave at the top of the game.
She plans to work as a consultant in the sphere of philanthropy and making communities better places.
Since it was founded in 1943, Vancouver Foundation, in partnership with its donors, has distributed more than $917 million to thousands of community projects and programs.
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