Karen Showalter

Chief Strategist

Karen has led the Global Scholar program for the past 12 years, and has developed and delivered programming around social change, advocacy, strategic communications, and movement building for over 15 years. She was previously the Executive Director of AMP Global Youth. When not coaching AMP leaders, she’s a Senior Director for a national women’s organization where she leads state-level campaigns around equal pay, paid family and medical leave, access to childcare and early learning, and more. Previously, she ran Oxfam International’s Essential Services Campaign in Mali, coordinating the interaction between national and global campaigns around access to education. She has also worked with Netcentric Campaigns as a movement-building and social media advisor for organizations working on human rights, women’s empowerment, and security challenges. Karen got her start as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa. She has degrees from Princeton University (MPA), the Univeristy of Michigan (BA, Honors), and Horace Mann School. Karen is also a Penn State Master Gardener, mom of two, and runs her family farm in southern Ohio.