Karen Fray bridges the gap between people and tech with finesse. She has been called a talent whisperer, having recruited, led, and mentored countless talent of all levels to success. On the tech front, Karen's been in the industry and government start-up world since Netscape was a browser and AOL was everything. Now, she's channeling her love for developing talent into the tech world, combining her people-centric approach with her technological acumen to drive impactful change in organizations.
Prior to joining the At the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Karen was the National Service Portfolio Director with the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) where her role was creating pathways of service of non-traditional talent. She later held the role of Chief of Staff for NSIN and later supported the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) by standing up the Defense Innovation Community of Entities (DICE) to promote harmony and collaboration amongst the DoD Innovation offices. Currently, Karen serves as the Solution and Services Lead, leading the transition of technologies from test environments to full-scale deployment. Karen will lend her expertise towards ensuring that test and experimental technologies move efficiently and at scale from sandbox to operational, maximizing their impact and value to AFRL and broader DoD community.
Karen considers it an honor to be an AF Civilian and work with an amazing team who are passionate about empowering leaders to embrace artificial intelligence, envision a future where leaders build a stronger relationship with knowledge and leverage tools like Machine Learning and AI to enhance their impact.
Karen holds a grad and undergrad in Public Administration and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). An avid traveler and food enthusiast, Karen has recently forgone the idea of working towards a PhD and instead is taking up scuba diving.