Karen Brown is an accomplished business leader, advisor and speaker with significant multicultural and global experience promoting diversity and inclusion within the corporate, non-profit and academic sectors. With a passion for linking diversity and inclusion to key business initiatives, she brings firstrate knowledge and real world examples to every speaking opportunity.

Brown is the founder of Bridge Arrow, a Chicago-based management consulting company whose mission is to make leaders more effective and businesses more profitable through diversity and inclusion. She launched the firm following a career as an operations executive and diversity and inclusion expert in major global organizations. She most recently served as Global Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer with Baker McKenzie, a $2.8 billion global law firm. In addition, she has held senior roles at Sodexo, Baxter Healthcare, Monsanto and Rockwell Collins.

A compelling and highly regarded speaker, Brown excites and educates audiences on the business advantages of diversity and inclusion. Her topics include D.I.N.E.: Are You Eating What You're Serving?*, Self-Advocacy: Owning Your Future, and Moving Beyond Counting People to Making People Count. A keynoter and panel moderator, she speaks at conferences hosted by organizations such as the US Military Academy, HR Vision, ICEDR and others. She illuminates her perspective with thought-provoking commentary and was recently published in Harvard Business Review for her article, "To Retain Employees, Focus on Inclusion – Not Just Diversity." Her book, based on a series of interviews with women leaders, explores the business mandates of gender equity and will be released in 2019.

Throughout her career, Brown has given time and expertise to various organizations and non-profits. She is a Governance Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors, whose more than 18,000 members include both corporate directors and C-Suite executives. She is an active member of the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, a think tank, as well as a sought-after speaker for its events. Brown serves as a citizen diplomacy ambassador and board member of WorldChicago, a non-profit organization that promotes interactions among global citizens to make the world a more peaceful and prosperous place. She has been an adviser to ICEDR-QUEST, Chicago United and the National Organization on Disability as well as a past board member of the Gay Lesbian Straight Educators Network and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

*D.I.N.E (Diversity Inclusion Never Ending)