Karen Catlin

Karen Catlin is a passionate advocate for inclusion in the workplace. After spending twenty-five years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe, she witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, she knew it was time to switch gears. Today, Karen is a leadership coach, keynote speaker, and author. She's a highly sought-after and engaging presenter who has delivered talks at hundreds of events....See more

Karen Catlin is a passionate advocate for inclusion in the workplace. After spending twenty-five years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe, she witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, she knew it was time to switch gears. Today, Karen is a leadership coach, keynote speaker, and author. She's a highly sought-after and engaging presenter who has delivered talks at hundreds of events. In addition to speaking herself, Karen is determined to bring more diversity to speaker lineups at tech industry events. To support this goal, she coauthored Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking with Poornima Vijayashanker. In 2014, Karen started the Twitter handle @betterallies to share simple, actionable steps that anyone could take to make their workplace more inclusive. That Twitter handle became the inspiration for her books, "Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces" and "The Better Allies(TM) Approach to Hiring." She continues to tweet and blog for Better Allies and emails a roundup of "5 Ally Actions" to her subscribers every week. Karen is a graduate and active alum of Brown University, serving as an advisor to the university's Computer Science Diversity Initiative and mentoring students on how to launch their careers. She's also on the advisory boards for the Women's CLUB of Silicon Valley and WEST (Women Entering and Staying in Technology). In 2015, the California State Assembly honored Karen with the Wonder Women Tech Innovator Award for outstanding achievements in business and technology and for being a role model for women. Karen and her partner Tim live in San Mateo, California. They're the proud parents of two Gen Z children, Emma and Ted. To find out what Karen's up to next or invite her to speak at your next event, visit her website at www.karencatlin.com. See less