Karen supports the implementation and development of Ceres' strategy to halt deforestation, reduce food sector greenhouse gas emissions, and protect nature and biodiversity. Serving a cross-cutting role across research, investor engagement, and evaluation, Karen works closely with the Senior Program Director to enhance the program management systems to be able to better track and evaluate the results and progress of the program. She also helps develop and execute external partnership strategy with a focus on the food systems and forests space, enabling stronger collaborations with relevant stakeholders, funders and other organizations. Karen brings with her over 12 years of experience in working on global forest conservation and corporate sustainability.
Prior to joining Ceres, Karen played a wide range of roles at World Wildlife Fund, leading research efforts to support companies and communities to implement sustainable forest management and responsible sourcing of forest products. She also led the development of strategies and monitoring metrics to support global forest program development. She co-authored numerous publications pertaining to the environmental sustainability in the forest sector. She holds a master’s degree in International Development Studies from George Washington University with a focus on sustainability and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a focus on development economics from Mount Allison University.