Karen Baird

 Karen Baird, APTD, is an experienced marcomm and talent development professional with over 20 years of service in diverse industries including nonprofit, publishing, higher education, and healthcare. She developed her passion and interest in organizational and talent development through her decade of work at MIT where she coached students on their career development and led change management, culture change, and digital transformation initiatives. She is particularly passionate about aligning talent development programs with strategic business goals, ensuring that learning and development functions are seen as critical to the success of an organization.

Karen currently serves on the Board of the Association for Talent Development as the VP of Marketing and Communications for the Nashville, TN chapter and the Director of Programs for the San Antonio, TX chapter.

Karen earned her BA in English from Columbia College, South Carolina and an MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College, Boston. She also loves to travel and spent a gap year serving with a nonprofit in Belfast, Northern Ireland and South Africa, which started her strong interest in learning about people, behavior change, and culture.

Karen and her husband, along with their cat Mickey, are newly settled in Texas and have loved discovering the sights, tastes, and fiestas of the area! In her free time, Karen can be found picking new tunes on her ukulele at local bluegrass jam sessions, swimming in central Texas watering holes, checking out local coffee shops, and learning new clogging steps.