Career 5.0 – Coming Full Circle

Karen Henken

It has been a long time since I have connected with all my classmates from the GSB, and I am happy to share the story of the many stages of my career and life. I feel so fortunate to have had so many interesting opportunities and experiences in my career and feel grateful to be doing work I truly love and that fulfills me.

As many of you may recall, I began my career pre-GSB in Japan, where I worked for the Fulbright Commission and then studied as a Rotary Graduate Fellow in Tokyo. I had a deep passion for creating social change when I began that journey, as I came from a family that was truly focused on being in service of others, especially in the realm of educational innovation to provide greater access to economic opportunity. I went to Japan with the intention of working in economic development in emerging markets. When I saw how little funding there was in that arena (especially back in the early 1980s), I came back to the U.S. and went into international business in Silicon Valley, which then brought me to the GSB. I then continued in my career in the Bay Area for over twenty years.

Beginning in 1981 I had a wonderful and exciting career working in a wide variety of tech companies, helping grow their international businesses as well as global partnerships and distribution, both in management roles and later as a consultant for much of my career. I worked in many startups that grew rapidly, went public, or were acquired, and I also worked in a variety of businesses that crashed and burned. I worked as a consultant for many large, Fortune 500 companies with huge problems and potential to create powerful change and growth, often with very mixed results and horrible corporate culture. In the course of that, I also decided I needed a hobby, and became a passionate competitive equestrian, competing in hunter / jumper and then dressage for many years. I never rode a horse until I turned 36, and then it was a magical passion for me. It was my true outlet and joy, and once my daughter Rachel was born, she became my riding buddy!

In 2003 we left Silicon Valley and moved to San Diego to raise our family, seeking a somewhat quieter, less crazy lifestyle here, although I continued to commute to the Bay Area for many years to work as a consultant there. There was also a fabulous horse community here in San Diego, with perfect weather, many great places to ride, and excellent trainers, so that was a wonderful benefit. Riding was truly a shared passion for me and my daughter.

However, despite interesting work and a great lifestyle, a part of my “soul” always yearned to find a way to work at the intersection “of business and social good.” I always deeply believed that business, with its vast resources and ability to leverage best practices of effective business models, could create true social change by working in partnership with nonprofits and government. That passion and belief for social change was part of my DNA since childhood, as every member of my immediate and extended family had worked in the social sector.

So, in September 2011 I decided to reinvent myself. I declared that I would find a way to work in the intersection of business and social good. I was unequivocal that there was work and funding in this arena, and that society was moving in that direction. It was hard work to make that transition, and it has been a journey of joy and incredible fulfillment ever since.

I began that journey to my new career in September 2011 by becoming part of a brand-new initiative, called the San Diego Social Innovation Trust. It was created to bring together businesses, government, military, nonprofits and educational institutions for cross sector collaboration to break down the silos that impeded social change in our region. We worked towards collaborative funding and shared resources across sectors. It was groundbreaking work and opened the door to innumerable connections for me, through new friendships and the opportunity to learn from leaders and innovators in every sector. That directly led to my being invited to teach in the MBA program at University of San Diego (USD). I was asked to design and launch a new course called Business and Social Innovation. It turns out that my co-professor, Dr. Patricia Marquez, was then asked to become Dean and lead the “reinvention” of USD’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. She asked me to join her board to lead much of this effort and we co-designed and launched a new graduate program, the Master of Arts in Social Innovation, which I led and taught core courses for many years.

I also knew I wanted to re-engage in international work, specifically focused on teaching and training in emerging markets. In addition to teaching and leading programs at USD over the last six years, I helped to design and lead an entrepreneurship incubator and training program partnering with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology, and 22 of the leading universities in Vietnam for three years. I reconnected with our wonderful classmate Kien Pham while doing this work. I then led business development for a San Francisco based tech startup focused on trade finance and helped raise a $150 million fund for entrepreneurs in East Africa. I continue to commute to Colombia, where I work with two universities teaching social innovation, social entrepreneurship, and design thinking to faculty and students across the country.

I am now working on the next version in the continuing cycle of Career and Life 5.0.

My daughter Rachel just got married on June 20th to the wonderful man she has dated since high school. While their wedding was planned as a large event, we all adapted due to COVID-19, and they “pivoted” and had a lovely, intimate family wedding in our backyard this month, with the bigger wedding postponed until next year. My son, Joshua just graduated from University of Michigan, spending the last semester studying remotely and completed his degree in biomedical engineering. He began working at Stryker this month, in a sales training program, his dream job. He is working from home and will move to Michigan at the end of the month.

I am also in the midst of launching a brand-new nonprofit focused on supply chain solutions for social good, working with one of my long-time business colleagues who is a global leader in supply chain management. We are creating a solution to address the massive breakage of supply chain solutions that has been exacerbated by this pandemic. The pandemic has led to a horrific combination of lack of access to food and medical supply resources for those most in need while there is massive ongoing waste of food products at the other end of the supply chain. Our solution is designed to bring together the intersection of business resources and its power to effect change and the need for systems change to drive social good.

Stay tuned for where we go with this as we are now incorporating our 501c3 and will launch our efforts this summer.

I look forward to reconnecting with all of you!