Karen currently works as Chief Operating Officer at Environmental Leadership Australia (ELA) where she has overseen and managed ELA’s exponential growth in the last 12 months. In late 2022 she co-founded Multicultural Leadership Initiative (MLI), a non-profit, non-partisan organisation that identifies gaps and grows solutions to enable racially, culturally and linguistically diverse people to participate in building a climate safe future.

She has 15 years experience in the international aid and development sector, previously Chief Operating Officer at ActionAid, former Chief Financial Officer at Opportunity International Australia and previously a Director at Australian Progress and Democracy in Colour. . Both organisations empower women to work together to transform their communities using a rights based approach to create systemic change in patriarchal societies.

She knows that when societies increase investment in women and girls, we can see the flow-on effect on their family, community and the economy. She has a longstanding passion for intersectionality and gender equality, with first hand experience on how gender, race and social status exacerbates gender inequality. She brings to AIIW her passion and enthusiasm for a just, gender balanced world as well as decades of experience in finance, operations and governance.

Focused on impact and outcomes, she loves working alongside like minded people to solve big problems. She is inspired by the wise words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

She is a Chartered Accountant and has a Masters in International Development from University of New South Wales and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the Australian Catholic University.