Katherine O’Neill

Katherine O’Neill joined the YWCA Edmonton as Chief Executive Officer in March 2020. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of girls and women and inspiring people to hear the important call of community service.

Katherine has worked in leadership positions in communications and politics throughout her career. A writer by trade, she spent most of her journalism career working as a national correspondent with the Globe and Mail, dispatching stories from across Canada and even the dusty battlefields of Afghanistan in 2008.

After leaving journalism, Katherine led several organizations, including the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and Alberta Together, a non-partisan, not-for-profit that conducted political research and worked to attract more young Albertans to enter politics. She also ran a communications company that specialized in crisis communications and media relations.

Katherine has volunteered on and led several not-for-profit boards, including some with a focus on early childhood education, literacy and disability services.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Journalism from Carleton University.