Dr. Karen Lindsey is a scholar, mentor, and leadership consultant.

She currently
serves an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications at Elon University in North
Carolina while maintaining an active consulting practice as owner of Lindsey
Consulting Group where she advises university presidents, corporate executives,
non-profit boards on strategic communications, serves as a keynote speaker, and
conducts workshops on social corporate initiatives and inclusive leadership. Before
moving to North Carolina in 2021, she was a visiting lecturer at Texas Christian
University where she taught public relations, strategic writing, diversity and
campaigns courses.

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Lindsey has 20+ years of combined corporate communications, higher
education, media relations, and marketing experience. Prior to teaching, she was a Vice President in the Dallas,
Texas office of Edelman. In this role, she provided brand reputation management strategies, created crisis
communication plans, conducted media coaching, and led the work of account executives in New York,
Washington, D.C., Austin, Houston, and Dallas. She held corporate communications, media relations, and
marketing positions with Northwestern Mutual, the Chicago Tribune, U.S. Bank and Wisconsin Gas. Dr. Lindsey
also served as a leadership communications contractor to the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Defense.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in
applied communication from Mississippi College. She has a PhD from Azusa Pacific University with a research
emphasis on organizational leadership and the influences, formation, and emergence of leadership identity in
women of color. She is currently co-authoring an academic textbook to prepare students to become culturally
proficient strategic communications professionals.

Dr. Lindsey is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Association for Education in
Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), International Leader Association (ILA), a fellow with the Women
in Leadership Development Institute (WLDI), a University Leadership Scholar Fellow, and a former member of
the National Association for Professional Women (NAPW), the National Association of Colleges and Employers
(NACE), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers (SoACE). Dr. Lindsey’s community service work
includes the Alzheimer’s Association, Meals on Wheels, and Girl Scouts, USA. She is a frequent keynote speaker
at corporate events and professional conferences on the topics of Women in Leadership, Crisis
Communications, Inclusive Leadership, and Creating Authentic Brand Narratives.

She believes that diversity, equity and inclusion is more than a workshop or a speech but begins on an individual
level by embodying our espoused personal values, examining our similarities, respecting lived experiences,
acknowledging historic realities, and investing in change for the future.