Karen is the Philanthropy Director at Lever for Change. Most recently as the Home Region Program Director at the Walton Family Foundation, Karen launched the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program and managed a portfolio of over $300 million in grants, supporting the development of a sense of place and belonging, wealth creation, and an arts and culture ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta. Prior to joining the Walton Family Foundation, she worked for the city of Fayetteville (Arkansas) where she served as the director of strategic planning and internal consulting and led Fayetteville’s comprehensive city plan, which brought together key stakeholders to help plan the community’s future.

Karen has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. She has served on the boards of the Walton Charitable Support Foundation and Thaden School and as a member of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Community Advisory Council.