Karen Cowe

Karen Cowe is CEO of Ten Strands, a San Francisco-based nonprofit whose mission is to build and strengthen the partnerships and strategies that will bring environmental literacy to all of California’s 6.2 million K–12 students. Cowe is an education-industry executive with over 30 years of experience in sales and fund development, marketing, program design, professional learning, business development, and operations. Prior to launching Ten Strands, she was President and CEO of Key Curriculum Press, an innovative and award-winning K-12 STEM publisher. Before that, she was Managing Director of Burlington Books in Athens, Greece, the first publisher in Greece to offer locally-focused English language instructional materials for Greek students. In addition to her understanding of the complexities of the U.S. education landscape, she has valuable insights into education in other nations, having built relationships in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Cowe holds a Bachelor in Business and a minor in Education from Saint John’s College, York, and a Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College, California.