iDiverse Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion Meeting

Karen J. Watai is the President of KWA Leadership Consulting LLC, a firm which specializes in executive coaching, facilitation, and customized training. She has worked closely with her clients to develop their personal and organizational leadership through the innovative design of results-oriented practices and learning experiences.

In addition to the broader leadership arena, Karen focuses on the specific challenges of personal and organizational leadership in environments characterized by a diversity of cultures, gender, and work styles. She collaborates with Professor David A. Thomas on programs based on his book Breaking Through – the Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America. One of these programs received an International Innovation in Diversity Award from Profiles in Diversity Journal.

Karen has coached and/or trained individuals from a variety of organizations including Goldman Sachs, New York Life, Kaplan Inc., Comcast, Prudential, HSBC, BET Networks, Tory Burch, DLA Piper, and Harlem RBI. Her coaching clients include Executives, Partners, Vice Presidents, and managers of corporations, professional services firms, hedge funds, and non-profits. She has also been a coach for the Global Institute for Leadership Development and Harvard Business School Executive Education.

Prior to founding KWA Leadership Consulting LLC, Karen spent almost 20 years in the investment banking and private equity industries. She was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs where she executed transactions in the Private Finance Department and was a relationship manager in the Capital Markets Department. She also worked in the Management Development and Training Department where she designed, developed and delivered major initiatives including mentoring, diversity, compliance, and business programs. Karen left Goldman Sachs to become a partner in the Exeter Group of Funds, a private mezzanine and equity investment firm.

Karen holds a J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, as well as an A.B. from Harvard University. She has received the Master Certified Coach designation, the highest credential awarded by the International Coach Federation. She is certified in the Hogan Assessment Systems, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the PDI Profilor. KWA Leadership Consulting LLC is certified as a Minority Business Enterprise.

As BCW’s Chief Inclusion Officer, Carol has a deep understanding of the business approach to embedding inclusion and the metrics-driven practices of building and nurturing a truly inclusive organization. She believes in the relentless progress of inclusive organizational transformation in her work internally and as an external marketer, thought leader and inclusion & diversity (I&D) practitioner.

Prior to joining BCW, Carol was Senior Director, Global Advisory and Consulting for Diversity Best Practices/Working Mother Media, responsible for advising and consulting 200+ mid- to large-sized organizational leaders at all levels on how to best leverage proven, innovative diversity initiatives and sustainable culture change strategies. Projects included I&D in communications, the impact of employee resource groups, strategic diversity recruiting and leadership accountability. Additionally, Carol has consulted on structure, benchmarking and auditing practices and leadership accountability.

Carol co-founded the marketing and media industry initiative Inclusive100 with She Runs It, which brings together the advertising, media and marketing ecosystem to benchmark workforce, workplace and inclusive culture progress and share best practices with 30+ marketing organizations participating quarterly.

She has a Masters of Organizational Development from Pepperdine University, as well as certifications in Intercultural Development Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Coaching.

As a lifelong learner, Carol can also be found performing in a cover band on bass, vocals and bongos.