Ms. Karen Turner joined the National War College faculty in July 2011. Prior to joining NWC, Ms. Turner served as Director of the Office of Development Partners (ODP) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), where since September 2007 she provided leadership to the Agency’s efforts to build partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, diaspora, as well as other countries and multilateral development institutions.
Ms. Turner joined USAID in 1985, working initially as a legal advisor in the General Counsel’s Office and also as a legal advisor in USAID Missions in Egypt (1986-89) and India (1989-91). She served as AID Representative for the West Bank (1993-95) based in Jerusalem; Deputy Mission Director in USAID/Indonesia (1995-97); Director, Office of East and South Asia Affairs (1998-1999); Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Asia and Near East Bureau (1999-2002); and, most recently, as the Mission Director for USAID/Jamaica (2003-2007). Prior to USAID, Ms. Turner was in private law practice with Shearman Sterling in New York. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University, and a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Harvard University. In 2007, she was promoted to Career Minister, USAID’s highest career Foreign Service level.