Karen White Email & Phone Number

Bemidji, Mn

Bemidji, Mn

Bemidji, Mn

Vice President overseeing programmatic activities of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation

Bemidji, Mn

Executive Director – Direct externally-focused programs and services, supervising seven staff members, outside consultants, and multiple third-party vendors. • Cross-functional Leadership: Manage multiple teams, including director’s council, advisory council, sub-teams, and members of more than 20 organizations. • Executive Liaison: Represent the university with multiple stakeholders, encompassing MN university system board of trustees, nine system colleges, industry partners and associations, economic development organizations, and students and their families. • Strategic & Tactical Planning: Developed joint goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics with large internal and external teams; evaluation by external sources showed remarkable achievements. • Budget Oversight: Manage $2M annual budget from five major funding sources, adhering to all BSU and state procurement requirements while beneficially executing multiple contracts. Achieved objectives with 20% less budget used. • Revenue Development: Secured additional $2M in revenue from Federal, foundational, and corporate funding sources with another $1M+ in follow-up annual funding. • Website Development: Supervised creation of new website with flash animated career pathway. Developed site map, wrote copy, selected Web developer vendor, purchased URLs, tested and proofed all pages, compiled feedback for modifications, and launched website in two months. • Center of Excellence: Led development of 360° Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence from concept to award-winning organization, involving the coordination of 10 member Minnesota-based universities and colleges. Recently named a finalist for the 2010 Tekne Awards. • Talent Management: Build internal and external teams through talent identification, hiring, performance evaluation and correction, coaching, and mentoring.

Fast-tracked through engineering management positions in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering with supervision of 31 direct reports and $5M annual budget. * Center Oversite: Managed engineering operations to support the development of technology, processes, and capacity to execute large, multi-disciplinary, high-tech research programs funded by the Department of Defense. * Strategic Alliances: Coordinated joint planning and resource allocation with two Federal agencies, three businesses, and two universities, involving long-distance relationship building, intellectual property agreements, and joint proposal development. * Executive Leadership: Served on center leadership team, identifying key resources and partners, establishing value propositions for main stakeholders, and representing university at national conferences and events. * Revenue Development: Excelled as key contributor in securing $5M in funding from new sources to fund program expansion. * Product Line Installation Project: Led $4.2M project for the installation of two technology/product lines into clean room facilities. Installed and qualified 60+ pieces of equipment in less than nine months, ahead of schedule and 11% under budget. * Partnership Building: Functioned as primary point-of-contact for national and regional industry partners and customers, including Alien Technology Corp., Tessera Technologies, Inc., Crane Aerospace and Electronics Wireless Monitoring Solutions, Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing, and Clinical Supplies Management. * Negotiations: Resolved an impasse between legal representatives of the university and a key client by negotiating a win-win resolution regarding intellectual property terms and conditions.

Award-winning manufacturing facility producing high-tech data storage hardware. General Supervisor - Progressed through positions of increasing responsibility, providing management of technology and process development, project management, quality improvement, cost reduction, safety oversight, customer relations, ISO certification, sales and operational planning, staff supervision, change management, forecasting, and expense control. * Team Leadership: Supervised 10 direct reports and approximately 200 production operators working on a four-crew shift schedule, including daily, weekly, and monthly tracking of projects. * Cost Optimization & Control: Oversaw $18M annual budget in meeting cost targets for 10 product lines. * Capacity Expansion Project: Initiated and managed a key $3M capacity expansion project through justification, equipment quotes, vendor selection, equipment build, installation, and qualification. * Process Improvement Project: Directed multi-functional teams in completing numerous projects, annually. Achieved improvement from <3 sigma capability to >5 sigma capability, with significant yield improvement and 40% cost reduction. * Business Turnaround: In 18 months, helped turn around a product that was losing $7M into a successful product earning a $2M annual profit. * Productivity Improvement: Boosted productivity 55% through design, build, installation, and qualification of semi-automated assembly equipment, including creating new equipment from surplus parts on hand. * Quality Assurance: Controlled the quality and reliability of 10 finished products and 100 piece parts, tracking quality metrics and leading cross-functional teams in executing quality improvement strategies and projects. * Executive Leadership: Served on 13-member plant management team, planned and supported visits from CEO, executives, and customers, including multiple presentations.

Master Of Science (Ms), Chemical Engineering

Bachelor, Chemical Engineering (Bche)

Education record