Karen Mercaldo

AiPhilanthropy marks a new phase in Karen Mercaldo’s professional journey.  Her career has moved from a decade of international  banking, where she was Vice President International Development and Strategic Planning for the Chase Manhattan Bank through a decade of consulting – first on strategic planning with McKinsey & Company in New York and Toronto and then on breakthrough change with Robert Schaffer & Associates in Toronto and Vancouver. Her consulting clients include major financial, nonprofit, and academic institutions in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The third decade opened up possibilities to contribute her professional skills to the community.  Karen taught Strategic Leadership and Results-Driven Change in the Executive Programs at the University of British Columbia and led the Board of Outward Bound Western Canada through a major organizational transformation and merger of the Canadian schools. She moved to San Diego five years ago with her husband and two teenagers, all of whom are citizens of the US and of Canada.

Karen appreciates the opportunity to learn from experience in different leadership roles and likes crossing boundaries - from line to staff, strategy advisor to breakthrough facilitator, management consultant to change leader, student to teacher and volunteer to philanthropic entrepreneur.  As co-founder of AiPhilanthropy for Positive Change, she initiated, designed and facilitated two appreciative inquires  - into Energizing Philanthropy and Creative Expression – for the San Diego Women’s Foundation as well as  work with LEAD San Diego and the SG Komen Foundation to connect their personal passions to breakthrough change.  Karen is a graduate of Leadership Vancouver and of LEAD San Diego.  She currently serves on the Boards of the San Diego Women’s Foundation, inSITE and Project Concern International, where she puts her own passions for international and community development to work. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Middlebury College in Vermont with a B.A. in Russian and Spanish.  Karen was born in Montana, raised in Washington, Oregon and Colorado, has lived and traveled extensively internationally and is very energized by the potential of San Diego as a diverse, dynamic binational region.  Her hope is that AiPhilanthropy for Positive Change will contribute significantly as a local resource to connect, inspire and build the community.