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Jim Canales was named president and a trustee of the Barr Foundation in May 2014. Since his arrival, Barr has experienced significant growth, as annual grantmaking has tripled during this time, and Barr’s staff has more than doubled in size. Early in his tenure, Jim led the Foundation through a strategic review of each of Barr’s core focus areas of arts and creativity, climate, and education. Subsequently, he oversaw the strategy development and launch of special initiatives to advance access to Boston’s waterfront and to promote racial wealth equity. His writings on a range of topics have appeared in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and Stanford Social Innovation Review, among other outlets.

Prior to the Barr Foundation, Jim spent over two decades in a variety of roles at The James Irvine Foundation in California, including service as president and chief executive officer from 2003 through 2014. Before working in philanthropy, Jim was a high school English teacher in San Francisco, after earning a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in education from Stanford University.

Jim maintains a broad range of volunteer engagements, currently serving as vice chair of the Kaiser Family Foundation and as trustee of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Eastern Bank Foundation.

In 2023, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Jim to serve as a trustee of the Boston Public Library for a five-year term. He participates actively on various philanthropic leadership groups as well. Jim’s prior board involvement includes a ten-year term as a Stanford University trustee. He has also served as chair of the boards of the College Futures Foundation, KQED Public Broadcasting, the Stanford Alumni Association, and Larkin Street Youth Services, and as vice chair of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He is also a co-founder and former board chair of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations.