Karen Parrish, Vice President, IBM has been appointed “Executive in Residence” in the Center for Digital Transformation, School of Business for the Academic Year 2011-2012.

"Karen is a dynamic leader with a special and enviable skill: the ability to translate highly technical issues and processes into terms that all of us can understand," said Donna Rapaccioli, dean of the Gabelli School of Business and dean of the Schools of Business Faculty. "We are especially thankful to be connected with her because her passion for improving the everyday lives of individuals lines up precisely with the mission of a Fordham business education."

Biography

Karen is the Vice President of Industry Solutions for the Public Sector which includes Healthcare, Life Sciences, Education, Government, Defense and Smarter Cities. In this IBM Software Group role, she is responsible for the cross brand and cross divisional strategy and execution for industry specific solutions across these industries worldwide. Karen accepted this position in January of 2011. Four years earlier, she accepted the position of Vice President of Industry Solutions and Frameworks in Software Group focused on incubating new industry offerings across seventeen industries for our Smarter Planet initiative.

Prior to this, Karen led the Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing business for seven years. During her tenure, she and her team delivered significant growth across the IBM portfolio of products and services in this space.

In June of 2000, Karen was appointed to the position of Executive Assistant to the General Manager of Pervasive Computing. Karen played a key role managing the operational and customer relationship activities for IBM’s emerging business, Pervasive Computing.

In previous positions in IBM, Karen was the Manager of Solutions Development in IBM’s Sales and Distribution division, responsible for the deployment of their Investment Business Management System and the replication of Business to Business solutions across key industries such as Distribution, Finance and Communications. She joined IBM in 1986 and spent her first ten years in IBM’s sales force as a Client Executive in the Distribution Sector servicing customers such as Kmart and Melville.

Karen attended Fordham University where she earned a Bachelors of Science degree and later obtained her Masters of Business Administration from Pace University. She has been married for twenty years and is the mother of two daughters. In her spare time, Karen holds the position of President of the Board of Directors for the Pleasantville Academy of Music Arts leads a Senior Girl Scout troop and is on the Board of Directors of SmartRoom. She was recently named Executive in Residence for Fordham University focused on Smarter Heathcare Analytics and Smarter Cities.