Karen Finlay is Director of Engagement and Chief Scientific Officer (“CSO”) and lives and works in Annapolis, Maryland with her husband Mark Finlay and is mother of Grace Finlay (22) who lives in South Carolina, where she is undertaking a Masters in Education.
Karen is a scientist by profession, with over 25 years experience as a Chartered Chemist and Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem MRSC), who, since relocating to the Washington DC area, is focused on health and wellbeing, and nutritional science and in deploying her analytical skills to help new businesses and brands to identify and overcome challenges and to establish in the United States and in the UK & Ireland.
During the COVID-19 Coronavirus Crisis Karen has been supporting an experienced team in the United States and coordinating a global collaborative of leading scientists and technologists seeking to identify the unique molecular signature of COVID-19 and utilize mobile technology to identity the presence of antibodies.
Karen has actively supported initiatives around reconciliation in Ireland since the Good Friday Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland and has enjoyed developing relationships with women in leadership from across the island of Ireland, from Europe and the United States.
Karen is passionate about mentoring and equipping next generation leaders in business, public service and civic society and, as a Fellow of the CS Lewis Institute, is a Mentor to the US Naval Academy CSLI College Associates Program.
Other passions, which always start with a cup of tea, include volunteering for an anti-human trafficking organization, serving as an ambassador of reconciliation among world leaders, and the thrill of skiing down mountains at top speed slightly out of control.