Meet Karen

Karen Dahut is president of Booz Allen’s largest business sector and an experienced public board director. She leads the $4B global defense sector, which represents half of the firm’s annual revenue. Under her leadership, Booz Allen has become the premier digital integrator helping the Department of Defense prepare for the new digital battlespace by using advanced technologies to enrich data for operational decisions.

Karen has previously served as our chief innovation officer. In this role, she imagined, built, and led the firm’s innovation business, delivering new and creative solutions to our clients’ toughest challenges. Karen and her team imagined and built a dynamic innovation agenda that transformed the firm with new capabilities in cyber, data science, and digital technologies. She was also charged with transforming the firm’s culture by creating a series of cultural components and systems to source, supply, and mature innovation practices while inspiring talent.

In addition, she established our strategic alliances program, creating imaginative, exclusive relationships with top technology companies and the startup community, placing Booz Allen at the center of the world’s innovation ecosystem.

In her 20 years at Booz Allen, Karen has also been an instrumental leader in our analytics business, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps business, and much more. Prior to joining Booz Allen, she was an officer in the U.S. Navy and served as the controller for the Navy’s premier biomedical research institute.

Karen is a recognized public speaker and author on topics ranging from next-generation technology solutions, innovation, next-generation talent, and diversity. She is a board member at several organizations, including Dexcom, the global leader in real-time continuous glucose monitoring; the global business advisory firm Eisner Advisory Group; the National Air and Space Museum; and the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, Department of Computer Science.

Karen received a B.S. in business finance from Mount St. Mary's University and an M.S. from the Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California.

What makes you most passionate about your work? Problem-solving. With clients, on behalf of the firm, with our incredible team, to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time.

Were there lessons you learned in the Navy that have influenced your work at Booz Allen? I’ve only made four important decisions in my adult life. One was the man I married, the second was to have children, the third was to join the Navy, and the fourth was to join Booz Allen. The Navy taught me leadership in a way that you would never get at that age anywhere else. I was 21 years old, leading people much older and more mature than me. The Navy thrust me into leadership and I had to find my way. That’s something I continue to rely on today.

What are your top tips for motivating people on your team? First, you have to inspire them. They have to be able to see a future that is bright and that they want to be a part of. Second, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and work with them—I believe deeply in the power of mentorship and sponsorship. You can’t be afraid to challenge yourself and continually improve your skillset so you can continue to be an essential partner to clients.

What keeps you up at night? Creating an inclusive culture for our talent. We’ve worked hard over the past two decades to create the policies and framework to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a leader, I’m focused on creating a culture that allows our people to succeed while bringing their full self to work. It’s something we have to work at every day and it will be something that keeps our talent here for the long run.

What are some of the biggest challenges your clients are facing? The technology revolution. Today’s technology is advancing so rapidly—quantum computing, artificial intelligence, IoT, commercial space travel. Our clients across every sector are challenged with harnessing the power of technology and applying it to true mission challenges. We’re helping them figure out how to continue to find, adopt, and deploy these technologies to solve their biggest challenges.

Why is Booz Allen best positioned to address these challenges? Booz Allen empowers people to change the world. We empower our talent, our clients, and each other. Because we do that, we unleash an incredibly talented population on really hard problems. We naturally integrate and collaborate, and that’s what makes us different. That’s why we can do things other firms aren’t able to do.