Karen Driver

Karen is the inaugural senior advisor for Native American Affairs at the University of Minnesota, a position created in 2021. Karen served as chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for 8 years, after serving as director of special projects for the Tribe. As chair, she expanded the land base of the Fond du Lac Band, grew the employment base from 1,600 to 2,200 and led the investment of more than $13 million in Duluth’s Center for American Indian Resources. She also served in the Obama Administration as a special assistant to the president on Native American affairs.

Other roles include serving as the University of Arizona Native American Advancement Initiative’s business development director and as the inaugural faculty fellow for Inclusive Excellence for Native American Affairs at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. Karen previously served as a faculty member at St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), she was the executive director of the YWCA in Duluth for 12 years.

Karen is a 2002 Bush Fellow, an opportunity that helped her obtain her master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Additional service

• Harvard Honoring Nations Board of Governors
• Great Lakes Fisheries Commission – US Section Chair