Karen Walker, Ph.D., is a former foreign affairs officer and academic with 30 years’ experience in public diplomacy, policy planning, program and grants management and strategic communication. She began her career as a public affairs officer with the U.S. Information Agency in 1990, promoting democracy and environmental programs. She joined the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1992, where she helped plan and manage national investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
She returned to Foggy Bottom in 1997 as a subject matter expert and foreign affairs officer. Throughout her tenure she supported global and regional environmental diplomacy programs; advocated for U.S. businesses investing in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; managed commercial diplomacy initiatives in developing countries; and co-led technical assistance and public diplomacy programs in the Middle East and North Africa.
Karen rejoined academe in 2006 and earned her Ph.D. in communication from the University of Maryland College Park in 2014. While dissertating on soft power diplomacy, she completed a State Department Franklin Fellowship as grants manager for democracy and governance programs in Iraq.
Immediately prior to joining The Presidential Precinct, Karen was a communications manager with the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, covering research advancements in sustainability, fairness-aware AI and engineering for health and promoting future leaders in STEM.
Karen is a lecturer for the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Advanced Academic Programs, where she teaches speechwriting, CSR and public diplomacy. She is a member of the Public Diplomacy Council of America, the Southern States Communication Association and the Kenneth Burke Society.
