Candid conversation: Here’s what Stephen Huddart has learned about power and privilege in philanthropy

Author Vinod Rajasekaran
After ten years as president and CEO of the McConnell Foundation, Huddart sat down for a final interview with Future of Good before retiring

Why It Matters

Stephen Huddart has worked as president and CEO of the McConnell Foundation for almost a decade — and has even more decades of experience in the social impact sector, giving him a unique vantage point on what’s evolved and changed through the years, what still needs to change, and what the sector needs to do to seize the current opportunity to build back better.

Later this year, after almost a decade as president and CEO of the McConnell Foundation, and 17 years total working with the organization, Stephen Huddart will retire. He’ll pass the torch to Lili-Anna Peresa, who currently leads Centraide du Grand Montréal. 

It’s an extraordinary time to be retiring and reflecting on a decades-long career in the sector, with so much social change, so many inequities being brought to light, and so much potential for reimagining. In one of the final interviews of his career, Future of Good Publisher Vinod Rajasekaran sat down with Huddart for an in-depth candid conversation about what he’s learned and unlearned throughout his career — about power, privilege, innovation, experimentation, and what it all means in a post-pandemic Canada. 

The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Vinod

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