2025 Outstanding Industrial Engineer
2025 Outstanding Industrial Engineer
Karen H. Gibson
The Honorable Karen H. Gibson has been a public servant for 37 years, first as an active-duty U.S. Army intelligence officer for 33 years, where she attained the rank of Lieutenant General, then as Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate for an additional four years.
Although a native of Montana, as a third-generation Boilermaker with Purdue graduates on both sides of her family, there was no question where Karen would attend college. When accepted to Purdue, her father suggested she consider ROTC to pay her out-of-state tuition. Initially skeptical, she has fond memories of rappelling in the Purdue Armory and of weekend exercises in the woods of Camp Atterbury, Indiana. She fell in love with being a Soldier at her first duty station in Fort Richardson, Alaska, and a four-year active-duty commitment became a rewarding vocation of many decades. She credits her Purdue education with providing a strong foundation in analytic problem-solving and a grounding in math and science that proved invaluable in working with highly technical intelligence collection capabilities.
A seasoned combat veteran, Karen led intelligence-operations centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and East Africa, culminating her military service as a Deputy Director of National Intelligence. She previously served as Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command, where she wielded National and Defense intelligence assets ranging from clandestine ground operatives to exquisite technical collection from space in support of national security objectives and U.S. military operations in the region spanning from Egypt to Pakistan and Yemen to Kazakhstan. She is especially proud of her service as Director of Intelligence for Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational coalition to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and as Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command, where she designed and built the first headquarters for synchronizing offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace.
Shortly after her military retirement and following the attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Karen was asked to restore security as the U.S. Senate’s Sergeant at Arms, where she worked to rebuild the Capitol’s security programs and restore faith and confidence in the Senate’s security. As the Senate’s chief law enforcement officer, she was responsible for all aspects of security in the Capitol and Senate buildings, not only in Washington, D.C., but at more than 450 Senate offices across the country. She was the Senate’s protocol officer and executive officer, enforcing rules regulating the Senate and was responsible for all aspects of the Senate’s technical communication and cybersecurity, as well as a broad array of installation support services for the Senate community.
In addition to her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue, Karen earned a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College and a M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University. After her initial retirement, she taught national security strategy as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and received an honorary doctorate degree from the National Intelligence University.
Karen is married with two adult children and two grandchildren. She advises several nonprofit foundations and enjoys academic pursuits, hiking, travel, and spending time with family.
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