Paulette Senior

Having spent her entire career empowering women and girls to overcome barriers and reach their full potential, Paulette Senior currently serves as President & CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF). Beginning her career on the front lines of social service organizations, she worked and provided support in some of Toronto’s most underserved neighbourhoods. Her work and advocacy with shelters as well as employment and housing programs paved the way for Paulette to take on leadership roles at national organizations. She served as CEO of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Canada (YWCA) for 10 years before joining the Canadian Women’s Foundation as CEO in 2016. Her work with the CWF is guided by the vision of an inclusive, national movement toward gender equity that stands to strengthen and benefit all Canadians. Throughout her career, Paulette has earned numerous awards and become one of the most respected women leaders and speakers in Canada.

Throughout 2022, as CWF CEO, Paulette secured $50+ million in visionary granting for gender justice, expediting the distribution of millions of dollars to grassroots organizations as a response to gender-based domestic violence. As a response to a domestic violence poll the CWF conducted, the organization launched the Signal for Help Responder digital learning journey, a tool to help people build their capacity to recognize abuse and better support survivors of abuse in their lives. In 2022, the Signal For Help Responder Community grew exponentially from 6,300 to over 42,000. Additionally, Paulette was appointed as a member of the Supreme Court Independent Advisory Board that resulted in the appointment of Michelle O’Bonsawin as the first Indigenous Justice to the Supreme Court of Canada, and she became a member of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, an advisory body that develops recommendations on gender equality issues across the G7 agenda.