Dr. Karen Y. Wilson-Starks is Senior Faculty for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Executive Nurse Fellows program at the Center for Creative Leadership for the 2012 Cohort. She brings to the role considerable experience as a consultant and lead faculty member for the Kauffman Fellows Program and as designer and lead faculty member for aspects of both the USGA Golf Fellows and the El Pomar Foundation Fellows Leadership Programs. Also as President of TRANSLEADERSHIP, INC., a values-based executive leadership development consulting company, she works in all sectors with senior leaders and executives in corporations, the US military, the US government, and non-profits such as Foundations and faith-based organizations. Her diverse experience and client base allow her to share cross-industry best practices with her clients. Dr. Wilson-Starks regularly helps clients who are challenged by tumultuous change, mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, and leadership shifts to make wise decisions, prioritize leadership actions, prepare for higher level responsibilities, and hit the ground running in executive integration and other tough leadership scenarios.
Her previous positions include serving as an active duty Army Psychologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; the First Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas; the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York; operating private practices in a variety of locations; functioning as the Chief of the Psychology Service for the Exceptional Family Member Program at the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany; and working as the Chief Assessor and a Senior Program Associate for the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Colorado Springs Dr. Wilson-Starks is currently an adjunct faculty member of CCL where she continues to provide executive education, coaching, and other services to corporate clients.
Educated as a Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Wilson-Starks completed her Ph.D. and Master's degrees at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. She holds active memberships in the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Register of Health Service Providers, the Society for the Advancement of Consulting (SAC), the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM), and the Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA). As a member of the Consulting Psychology Board of Division 13 of the American Psychological Association, she previously served as Chair of the Professional Visibility and Media Relations Committee and is now serving an elected term as Division Secretary.
Her co-authored article, "Consulting Competently in Multicultural Contexts" was published in the June 2008 edition of the Consulting Psychology Journal. Her article, "Team Building Success" appeared in the April 2011 issue of Outcomes Magazine and her article, "It's Time to Build High Performance Teams" appears in the August 2011 edition of CO-OP magazine. She is currently working on a book, "If Marriages Are Made in Heaven, How Did Mine Get Stuck on Earth?"
On a personal note, she comes from a family of nurses including her mother, grandmother and niece. Married to Gregory Starks a retired Army Officer and avid golfer, she enjoys international travel, Broadway theatre, vacations at the ocean, and reading and writing in her leisure time.