Karen Shepherd is the Director of Government Affairs, Advancement and Community at The Washington Ballet, the ballet of the nation's capital. In this role, Karen leads the government, foundation and corporate fundraising initiatives for The Washington Ballet in addition to providing strategic oversight and operating plans for community impact programming. She has over twenty years of experience in arts management and arts education for both non-profit and for-profit sectors of the arts industry. Before the Washington Ballet, Karen worked as Head of Campuses for the Levine School of Music, at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and as a manager of classical musicians at IMG Artists in New York City.
Currently, Karen serves on the Children’s Health Board of Children’s National Hospital and is a frequent grant reviewer for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In the past, she was a member of the Young Fellows Board of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City where she helped grow the board and secure gifts for capital campaign projects. Karen received her bachelor’s degree in Music (violin) and German from William & Mary (’00) and a Certificate of Business Management from the Mason School of Business ('18). During her time at W&M she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, The Gallery Players and was Associate Concertmaster of the W&M Symphony Orchestra. She resides in the District of Columbia with her husband and three children.