Karen Hold

Karen Hold is the founder and CEO of innovation strategy consulting firm, Experience Labs. A Procter & Gamble-trained brand marketer, Karen saw firsthand how P&G drove revenue and profit growth with innovation. With over 25 years of experience, Karen has consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies including AARP, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Audi, Chick-fil-A, Cisco, John Hancock, Mercedes, Nokia, NEC, and Porsche. She is passionate about building creative capacity in individuals, organizations and cities. 

Prior to forming Experience Labs, Karen was co-founder of Broadband Publishing, where she built sales through innovative marketing partnerships with Forbes and BusinessWeek magazines. Karen’s first book, written with Jeanne Liedtka and Jessica Eldridge, Experiencing Design – The Innovator’s Journey, was published by Columbia Business School Publishing in July 2021.

Karen is a graduate of Duke University and Georgetown’s McDonough Graduate School of Business. She is the Director of DT:DC, a 5,100 member MeetUp group in Washington, DC. She is a Visiting Executive Lecturer at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a Visiting Professor at Ecole des Ponts in Paris, France and Casablanca, Morocco.

Education

• MBA Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
• BA Duke University

Companies

• Director Global Circular Challenge (2021)
• Author - Experiencing Design - The Innovator's Journey Columbia Business School (2020)
• Visiting Professor École des Ponts Business School (2019)
• Visiting Executive Lecturer University of Virginia Darden School of Business (2018)
• Lead Trainer The Design Gym (2015)
• Director DT:DC Design Thinking DC (2015)
• Founder and Design Strategist Experience Labs (2012)
• Social, Business and Non-Profit Consultant Karen Hold (2006 — 2011)
• Co-Founder and Publisher Broadband Publishing (1993 — 2006)