Karen E. Wilson

Karen Wilson is the founder of GV Partners and is a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. She has focused on entrepreneurship education, policy and financing (venture capital), working with private sector firms, international organizations, foundations and universities, primarily in Europe. She has also served as an advisor on the recent European Commission Survey on Entrepreneurship in Higher Education. Prior to founding GV Partners, Karen worked in the venture capital industry. Previously, she was part of the senior management team at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and, before that, served as the Executive Director of the Global Initiative at Harvard Business School. Karen has served on a number of boards and coached many start-ups. She currently serves as an advisor and board member of the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER), an advisory board member for the United Nations (UNCTAD) EMPRETEC programme and is a member of the European Leadership Council for Harvard Business School. Karen received a Bachelors of Science Degree (with honours) in Mathematics and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.