Wireless Network Technology
Mar 06, 2018
Karen Smith, Verizon
Wireless Network Technology

The digital world is here and Karen Smith has been working in the industry since the first network transition from analog  to digital and brick/flip phones to smartphones.  She currently serves as a a national corporate communications manager for Verizon. Previously she served  as a regional PR manager.

Karen has been on the ground floor in two growth fields: the wireless industry and the start of women’s intercollegiate athletics. She was a trailblazer in the publicity and promotion of women’s sports serving as the first sports information director at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. At the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities she served as sports information director and then assistant athletics director for external relations. She is an avid Minnesota Lynx WNBA fan.

Karen served on the Minnesota Governor’s High-Speed Broadband Task Force and was named One of 25 “Women to Watch” by the Twin Cities Business Journal. She holds a masters degree from Temple University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa where she was a four-year letterwinner in field hockey. Originally from Waterloo, Iowa, she currently resides in Saint Paul, Minn.

MY CONNECTION TO ROTARY - A former member of the University club near U of Minnesota, my dad was a Rotarian and when I was a child my Aunt died prematurely of polio.  And, I am a former colleague and friend to Holly Callen!