Kara Hourihan

Kara Hourihan is the Executive Director of the Pedersen Foundation, where she leads the foundation’s philanthropic strategy across emerging fields including national security, neuroaesthetics, women’s hormonal health, and food and exercise on the brain. Guided by the foundation’s values of patriotism, impact, compassion, innovation, and humility, she works to ensure the foundation’s giving is both strategic and catalytic—helping new areas of research gain momentum and grow into established fields.

Prior to her work in philanthropy, Kara spent more than twenty years as a brand strategist advising Fortune 100 companies across multiple sectors, including Kellogg's, AT&T, and Kohl's. Her work focused on consumer research, innovation, and building meaningful connections between companies and the people they serve.

With a lifelong passion for design, Kara holds a master’s degree in interior design from Marymount University. Her studies deepened her belief that the built environment fundamentally shapes human health and wellbeing. Through her work at the Pedersen Foundation, she supports efforts to better understand how the built environment can actively support human physiology and wellbeing, helping to create spaces where people can truly flourish.