Board Member

Karen Donahue Alden joined the Hope Street Group Board in 2008.   She participated in the team that wrote Hope Street Group's policy paper on pre-K education and is a member of the board's governance committee.

Currently Karen is Executive Director of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association's pro bono consulting organization in northern California.  She is a board member of the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Full Circle Fund. She has led a variety of marketing and strategy projects and has served on the boards of directors for a number of education and youth-focused organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.   

Prior to her work in the non-profit sector, Karen spent fifteen years in business, developing revenue-building strategies for companies ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to very large corporations. For example, Karen was CEO of a small health food company during its Chapter 11 reorganization and subsequent sale.  At the acquiring company she spearheaded a companywide direct marketing initiative and created a national, home-delivered weight loss program.  At the Walt Disney Company Karen was instrumental in The Disney Channel's transition from a premium to a basic cable network, and at USA Networks, Inc. she headed distribution during Home Shopping Network's conversion from a broadcast to cable network.   

Karen earned a BA in Political Science at Boston College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.