Karen Spencer, Countess Spencer

Karen Anne Spencer, Countess Spencer (formerly Gordon, née Villeneuve; born June 6, 1972) is a Canadian social entrepreneur.

She is the founder and CEO of Whole Child International, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that works to improve the quality of care for vulnerable children.

She is the wife of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Countess Spencer was born Karen Anne Villeneuve in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the eldest of three children.

Her father’s career as a National Parks administrator required her family to move to as many as 23 homes and 10 schools during her childhood; Spencer has credited this experience as the foundation for her interest in helping children without a stable home.

The Countess married Mark Gordon, a Hollywood producer whose films include Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot, on November 8, 1997.

Together they have two daughters, Emma (b. 1998) and Kate (b. 2001).

The couple divorced in 2003.

Spencer was motivated to launch the nonprofit organization Whole Child International, which targets the emotional needs of society’s most at-risk children, after attending a 2004 parenting class that introduced the child-rearing approach of Emmi Pikler.

Whole Child is currently implementing programs with funding from USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Korean Poverty Reduction Fund, and other donors such as David G. Booth, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Pamella and Daniel DeVos Foundation.

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.

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 30 July 2012 at Althorp.

named in honour of her aunt, Diana, Princess of Wales.

In September 2015, she was elected an Ashoka Fellow for her work as a social entrepreneur by the Ashoka Foundation, which honoured her for 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."

She reportedly divides her time between her home in Pacific Palisades, California, and her husband's family seat at Althorp in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom.