Karen with her dadKaren and nephews at Headwaters Park Karen spends Christmas 2006 with family About Karen

For over twenty years, I have worked for better neighborhoods, better jobs and a better future for Fort Wayne. Whether helping people find jobs in the 1980’s, loaning money to businesses to grow and create jobs in the 1990’s, or working with high tech entrepreneurs today, I have been committed to economic development in our community. I currently work at FourthWave, LLC, a software and technology development firm in Fort Wayne. From 1986 to 2003, I worked for the City of Fort Wayne in a variety of community and economic development roles. From 1996 to 2000, I managed the Community Development Corporation of Fort Wayne which makes loans to small, growing businesses. From 2000 to 2003, I was Fort Wayne’s Director of Economic Development. Prior to working for the City, I worked for the State of Indiana’s Job Service and helped people find jobs, including skilled trades positions at General Motors when it opened the Fort Wayne Assembly plant.

I enjoy serving on the Northside Neighborhood Association Board of Directors and am an active member of the Curdes Avenue Storm Sewer Task Force. I was appointed to the Parkview Select Committee, which was created by the Northeast Area Partnership to work with Parkview Hospital so that active use of the Randallia campus would continue. I volunteer as a Commissioner of the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission. I have also been very actively involved in numerous organizations designed to improve Fort Wayne’s economic development, including the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, the Northeast Indiana Workforce Investment Board, Invent Tomorrow, Techpoint Northeast, and advisory councils at IPFW and University of St. Francis.

I was a Big Sister in Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana, as well as having served on that organization’s board. I am very active in my church and have served as youth group advisor, a member of its Board of Trustees and a term as President. I also helped raise money for the Girl Scouts of Limberlost Council’s capital drive and served on its Nominating Committee.

I have lived in the Northside Neighborhood since 1993, and have also lived in the Fairfield, Williams-Woodland Park, and West Central neighborhoods. I graduated from IPFW with a Masters in Public Administration as well as a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Nebraska. And I am lucky to have 19 nieces and nephews, two great-nephews and two great-nieces.