Profile

Dr. Karen Perham-Lippman serves as Senior Manager of Global Inclusion and Belonging at Otis Worldwide Corporation. As a pracademic and mission-driven business strategist with nearly fifteen years of demonstrated strategic and process thinking results in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), ESG, and social impact, she has worked with nonprofits, state government, municipal clients, and businesses across diverse industries and sectors globally.

Karen is a community leader, author, and public speaker. As a member of the Forbes Human Resources Council, her thought leadership appears on Forbes. She has taught business, communications, and organizational leadership as an adjunct professor at both undergraduate and graduate levels for over six years. She also served two consecutive terms by gubernatorial appointment on Colorado’s Business Experiential Learning Commission. Her commitment to service includes regional and global nonprofit board leadership, with recognition for her work supporting women in STEM and youth and families in poverty. She currently serves as Co-President of the League of Women Voters South Hampton Roads in Virginia and was appointed to League of Women Voters of Virginia's DEI Committee. In 2025, Karen was invited by Emerald Publishing to join its Neuroinclusive Publishing Environment Advisory Board.

Karen is a Certified Diversity Professional and holds a certificate in designing equitable courses from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). She also holds a certification in Ethics of AI from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organizational Leadership and Business Management from Eastern University, where she received the College of Business and Leadership's 2025 Student Service Award presented to a graduating student who has exemplified the college and doctoral program's ideals of leadership and scholarship on and off campus through significant contributions to the field. Karen’s scholarship is published with Ethics International Press, Emerald Publishing, Forbes, Merits International Journal, and SAGE Publishing. Her forthcoming book, Bridging Generations: Transformative Intergenerational Leadership and Followership, will be available from Emerald Publishing in Spring 2026.

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