Karen Karnicki is a program officer for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Peacebuilding program, focusing on grantmaking related to Afghanistan, as well as refugees and forced migration. Ms. Karnicki joined the RBF in 2015 as the program assistant for the Peacebuilding and Western Balkans programs. Prior to joining the RBF, Ms. Karnicki conducted research to support efforts to mainstream gender within the intergovernmental processes of the UN system. She also previously worked for a nonprofit focused on building the capacity of grassroots social movements. Ms. Karnicki is a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations and a 2020-2021 Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. She currently serves as chair of the Peace and Security Funders Group Steering Committee.
Ms. Karnicki holds a Master of Arts in human rights studies with a concentration in gender and transitional justice from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. from Boston College, where she double majored in Slavic studies and Islamic civilization & societies.