Karen Isabel Guevara
WCAPS Advisory Council Member
Ms. Karen Isabel Guevara partners with foreign governments to build alliances and institutional capacity. Her work yields measurable results. Most recently, she successfully led the Senegalese Prison Administration host the first Mock Prison Riot in West Africa and was involved in projects working with government ministries, military, and civilian security forces with border security mandates in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.
She has extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation, international development, national security, security policy, and a diverse career in the non-profit, public, and private sectors. At the Grameen Foundation, whose founder won the Nobel Peace Prize in Economics, she worked in the Americas portfolio and evaluated numerous international and non-governmental organizations. Part of the portfolio required building capital markets investments and joint ventures in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Bolivia, and Haiti. Her international development experience was emboldened at the United Nations. During her time at the United Nations, Ms. Guevara promoted and enhanced cross-cultural understanding by developing curriculum for the Model United Nations Program and implementing programs to promote dialogue and peace missions through student cross cultural exchanges from Ghana to Russia.
Ms. Guevara developed a deep understanding of national security strategy and military capabilities at the tactical, operational, and strategic theatre levels at the Department of Defense (DoD). At the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), she recommended policies concerning resource allocation and developed metrics to improve organizational performance. She also served as the DoD representative to the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ms. Guevara then joined the Department of State where she specialized in Turkish-Syrian relations with an emphasis on the Syrian conflict and border issues. She successfully represented the U.S. Government in various posts in Turkey, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, and Botswana.
After several years with the federal government, Karen moved to the private sector, working at Morgan Stanley, AARP, and in multiple consulting projects. In the private sector, she has merged her expertise in digital products and platforms with her background in international development and security sector reform to develop international programs that leverage the latest technology for strategic decision-making and best results. She measures the true impact of programming by using objective and methodical metrics as well as rigorous data-driven insights and analytics.
Ms. Guevara completed studies at the University of Oxford and Georgetown University. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Department of State Meritorious Honor Award, Federal Bureau of Investigations Intelligence Operations Award, and Department of Defense Award for Exemplary and Outstanding Achievement, Scholarship, and Service. Ms. Guevara participates in various speaking engagements and panel discussions including events at the United Nations Foundation and Georgetown University Law School.
