Lecturer in Management
- MBA, Stanford University, Marketing and Entrepreneurship
- BA, Bowdoin College, Political Science
Karen Henken, MBA has been teaching at the University of San Diego since 2014. She currently serves as adjunct faculty teaching courses in Global and Sustainable Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Social Impact Consulting at USD’s Knauss School of Business. She also served as Professor of Practice in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Kroc School. During her tenure at the Kroc School, she served as co-chair of the Kroc School Advisory Board for 3 years. As Professor of Practice she then helped design, launch and lead the new Master of Arts in Social Innovation degree.
Ms. Henken helps companies, nonprofits and NGOs connect across the globe with market expansion, new channels, partnerships, and new market opportunities. Her wide-ranging career includes nearly more than twenty years of business development and international sales roles with tech companies including Atari, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, and Borland and strategic consulting to high-tech companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. For over 15 years she has served as founder and principal of a consulting service for nonprofit and for-profit organizations and industries.
Since 2014, Ms. Henken has worked extensively training educators, students and business leaders on topics of entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging markets including Rwanda, Vietnam and Colombia. She has been teaching at two universities in Colombia, Uniminuto and CESA Business School since 2016.
Ms. Henken serves on several regional and global boards of social enterprises and social impact organizations including Kitchens for Good and Voices of Our City Choir in San Diego.
Her MBA from Stanford University focused on marketing and entrepreneurship. She was awarded a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship with the Japanese Ministry of Education and a Rotary Graduate Fellowship for studies at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.
Courses
MGMT 497 Global and Sustainable Business Strategy
GSBA 519 Social Impact Consulting Project
GSBA 590 Agile Strategies (Summer 2025)
GSBA 581 Global Entrepreneurship for Social Change (Intersession 2025)