Karen Gibson retired from the U.S. Army after 33 years of active-duty service. She culminated her career in 2020 as a Lieutenant General and Deputy Director of National Intelligence for National Security Partnerships. She is most proud of her roles as Director of Intelligence (J2) at U.S. Central Command (2017-2019) and J2 for Operation Inherent Resolve (2016-2017), the multinational coalition to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. After her military retirement, Karen served as U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms (2021-2025), where she worked with partners to transform the Capitol’s security and restore confidence in the Senate’s security team in the wake of the January 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Karen is a graduate of Purdue University (B.S. Industrial Engineering, 1986), the National Intelligence University (M.S. Strategic Intelligence, 1997), and the National Defense University (M.S. National Security Strategy, 2009). She taught National Military Strategy at Georgetown University (2021 and 2022).

Since retiring from her 37 years of federal service, Karen founded the Hyalite Strategy Group, LLC. She is a public speaker and provides consulting services to investment banks, combatant commands, defense industry partners, and academia.