Karen Spencer, Countess Spencer

Karen Anne Spencer, Countess Spencer (formerly Gordon, née Villeneuve; born June 6, 1972) is a Canadian social entrepreneur with a focus on systems change. Her varied career began as the founder of Whole Child International, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization that works to improve the quality of care for vulnerable children. From its founding in 2004 she held the position of CEO, and is scheduled to transition to Chair in June 2024. She is the wife of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Life and career
Born Karen Anne Villeneuve in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, her father's career as a National Parks administrator led to frequent relocations, resulting in her family residing in 23 homes and her attending 10 schools during her childhood. Spencer attributes this upbringing as the catalyst for her passion to establish Whole Child International, which supports children without stable homes.

Spencer was inspired to address the emotional needs of society's most vulnerable children in 2004, after participating in a parenting class that introduced her to the attachment-based child-rearing approach of Emmi Pikler. As of 2018, Whole Child was implementing programs with funding from USAID and other donors.

In February 2010, the 14th Dalai Lama gave his support to Whole Child at the launch of its global initiative to raise awareness of the plight of institutionalized children.

Karen Spencer is co-author of articles published in the peer-reviewed Infant Journal of Mental Health and Perspectives in Infant Mental Health, contributing important insights and realistic solutions to the public debate. In September 2015, the Ashoka Foundation elected her an Ashoka Fellow for her social entrepreneurial work identifying and filling a gap in care for orphans and vulnerable children. In 2016 she was made a Fellow at the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom. In 2017, she received the Pikler/Lóczy USA Founders Award, and People magazine named her one of "25 Women Changing the World."

In 2020 she joined the Governing Council of the Center for Global Development and became a founding member of Catalyst 2030, an organization focused on empowering the broader community of social entrepreneurs. At Catalyst she has been involved in a number of activities, most notably the development of a self-assessment tool for funders.

Systems change at the Althorp Estate
In 2019, Karen Spencer moved to the United Kingdom and led the modernization of Althorp Estates systems, recruiting a CEO and overseeing an overhaul of the agricultural and House businesses. Working with agroecologist Nicole Masters and CEO Garth Clarke, she provided the vision for the transformation of the agricultural systems across the Althorp Estate, getting all 4,500 acres of the in-hand farming into regenerative organic conversion — turning what had been an unsuccessful, polluting, biodiversity-destroying system into a model for better practices for estates nationwide using existing government support schemes. She partnered with Nicole Masters' Integrity Soils to facilitate a nine-month capacity-building course for 24 leading regenerative farming consultants that was hosted at Althorp.

In addition to transforming agricultural systems, she secured a £3.6 million capital grant from Natural England to overhaul the Althorp Parkland infrastructure, create a wetland ecosystem, completed the planning to upgrade the house and reinstated the stables within the historic stable block next to the house.

Marriages and children
Karen Spencer married Mark Gordon, a Hollywood producer whose films and TV series include Saving Private Ryan, Speed, Grey's Anatomy, and Criminal Minds, on November 8, 1997. The couple divorced in 2003. Together they have two daughters, Emma (b. 1998) and Kate (b. 2001).

On June 25, 2011, Spencer married Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer at Althorp. The Earl Spencer is the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and is an author and broadcaster. As a result of her marriage, Karen Spencer is formally styled The Right Honourable The Countess Spencer, and is addressed as Lady Spencer. The Earl and Countess Spencer have one child together: Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer, born July 30, 2012 at Althorp and named in honour of her late aunt, Diana, Princess of Wales.

In June 2024, it was announced that the Earl and Countess had separated and plan to divorce.