Karen Korponai,
Chief Sustainability Officer
Karen is passionate about nature and supporting scalable technology solutions such as those impacting clean energy and the future of entertainment. She is an Ambassador for the Global Blockchain Business Council where she has spoken on panels hosted on Sr. Richard Branson’s Necker Island and home in Morocco. She is a Founding Member of 100 Women@Davos and an Advisory Council Member of Thunderbird School of Global Management.
She is a Board Member for PlayingForChange.org Foundation, co-founded by Whitney Kroenke (Kroenke Family Office) which creates music schools around the world using music as a tool for education and social change. And, she is an Advisor for DaughtersForEarth.org, co-founded by Jody Allen, Microsoft’s Paul Allen sister, giving grants to women worldwide who are impacting climate change.
Karen is a Sr. Advisor and Limited Partner at Visionary Private Equity Group (VPEG) and Visionary Media Group. The VPEG is a mature, purpose driven fund, with a focus on leveraging technology to scale good (Media-tech, Med-tech, Energy-tech, Security-Tech, and others). Via VPEG and the Oliver Family Office, she guides conscious companies in their quest to turn visions into reality. Karen promotes the business paradigm that focuses on people, planet, purpose and prosperity.
Karen’s earlier experience included working with celebrity brands such as George Foreman, Bob Marley (she led the launch the House of Marley brand in over 20 countries) and Akon (Akon Lighting Africa initiative, which brought solar energy solutions to more than 1 million rural households in over 10 countries).
In 2014, Karen launched Konscious Konsulting to support organizations with business development, sustainability strategies, marketing, events and impact investing. One of her many skills is her ability to foster strategic partnerships between like-minded organizations. For example, her efforts led to the first African-made solar street light assembly plant in Mali and to the donation of solar street lights to a UAE royal family project in a refugee camp in Jordan.
She is Bolivian-American, an MBA graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management, her languages (including Spanish, Portuguese, French) and her passion for travel led her to work in 70+ countries.