Karen Rizkalla is a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader who is always looking for ways to help communities improve the education of students and support those in need through improved community engagement, fundraising and process renovation.

Karen spends most of her time today working with the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation (CEEF) Board, which she joined in 2011. She has been President since 2015. She was first involved with CEEF during the Their Future is Now campaign in 2010, which raised $2.5M in 6 weeks for the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD). Karen has founded several non-profit organizations that support local schools and works currently with several other non-profit organizations serving local Bay Area communities.

Karen has spent 20 years doing development work in public and private schools in the Bay Area. Before that she spent over 15 years in the consulting industry, first working for Andersen Consulting in New York and Boston, and then leading her own consulting company on the East Coast. Karen's consulting experience was primarily in user-centered design, testing and development for financial services companies. She was invited to speak in conferences globally and taught classes on the topic of user-centered design.

Karen received her BA in Psychology and Economics from Swarthmore College and her MA in Instructional Design and Technology from the Teacher’s College, Columbia University.