Kate Wolford served as the president of the Minnesota-based McKnight Foundation from 2006-2019, where she was responsible for a $90 million annual grantmaking budget. She spearheaded the development of the Foundation’s climate mitigation and sustainability efforts, as well as its diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. She also championed its impact investing strategy, work that has included earmarking $200 million for high impact investments, developing a new lower-carbon investment product, and advising other philanthropies.
Prior to joining McKnight, Wolford spent 13 years as president of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a global grantmaking and policy advocacy organization. Before that, she was program director for Latin America at LWR and did community development work in the Dominican Republic.
Wolford has a BA in history from Gettysburg College, an MA in public policy from the University of Chicago, and an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Wolford also serves on the board of directors of The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread and the Climate Generation advisory board.
