Karen Harper

Ms. Karen Harper serves IT Workforce Manager for the Office of the Chief Information Officer at NASA. She is principally responsible for ensuring the NASA IT community is able to maintain the necessary core competencies and skill balance of the IT workforce. Ms. Harper has been the energy force and strategist behind the successful NASA IT Summits since 2010. She has held several positions at NASA Headquarters serving in management positions in the Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Administrator, and Office of Institutions and Management.

Prior to Ms. Harper's position at NASA Headquarters, she was the Liaison Officer at NASA Glenn Research Center where she vigorously developed innovative and collaborative strategies to promote business, industry, and congressional relations with the Center.

As an advocate for networking, mentoring and coaching, Ms. Harper created the Cleveland Federal Community Leadership Institute designed to promote leadership development and community service skills and now in its 16th year. Ms. Harper has launched a new mentoring initiative for women and girls, "Pearls of Wisdom: Our Braided Lives", created to foster strong mentoring relationships between experienced professional women and high school girls.

Ms. Harper has a Masters in Administration from Central Michigan University and Bachelors degree in Communications from Wright State University.