LEGACY AWARD RECIPIENT
Karen E. Williamson is a seasoned executive whose career has spanned the health care, telecommunications, consumer goods, and government sectors. For the past eight years, she has provided her expertise under the umbrella of her independent consulting practice. For 17 years, Ms. Williamson worked for AmeriChoice Health Services, an innovative Medicaid managed health care company where she not only held marketing, strategic planning and government relations positions, but also spearheaded the launch of their Medicare products (AmeriChoice was acquired by United Healthcare and became its platform for serving vulnerable public sector populations). Earlier in her professional career she was employed by Philip Morris and Avon in New York City. During the Carter Administration, she worked in the White House as deputy to Louis E. Martin, Special Assistant to the President. She spent nine years in the telecommunications industry at Satellite Business Systems and MCI Communications. Ms. Williamson earned an A.B. degree in Economics from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Chicago. While at Chicago, she helped organize the first Black MBA student conferences in 1970 and 1971. In New York, she helped found the National Black MBA Association and served as the organization’s first vice president and is a lifetime member.
Active volunteerism has been an important component in Karen’s life. Currently, she is a board member and past board chair of the YWCA National Capital Area; an active member of The Potomac (VA) Chapter of the Links, Inc.; Leadership Greater Washington, and Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. Previously, she served as a board member and president of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, a trustee of Wellesley College, and president of the Washington Wellesley Club. She has served on the boards of MedStar Health Research Institute and Green Door, a program serving people with severe mental illness. She was a presidential appointee to the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services, a mayoral appointee to the DC Commission for Women, and a member of the Coalition of 100 Black Women of D.C. Ms. Williamson’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live in Sydney, Australia, which has become her favorite place to visit.