Karen Dahut leads Booz Allen’s defense and commercial business, reporting directly to the chief executive officer and serving on the firm’s Leadership Team. Karen directs the strategy and delivery of the firm’s strategic, technology, cyber, and analytics solutions to commercial clients, the department of defense, military services, and leading defense agencies. Booz Allen commercial clients include Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 100 corporations in automotive, retail, life sciences, financial services, and energy.

Previously, Karen served as the lead of the firm’s $2 billion civil and commercial business. Her commercial clients include S&P’s top 500 corporations in transportation, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and energy. Federal clients included health, finance, and homeland security agencies and departments.

Karen has also served as the firm’s chief innovation officer. In this role, she imagined, built, and led the firm’s $500 million innovation business, delivering new and creative solutions to our clients’ toughest challenges. During her tenure, that team imagined and built a dynamic innovation agenda that transformed the firm with new capabilities in cyber, data science, and digital microservices. 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 and placing Booz Allen at the center of the world’s innovation ecosystem.

In her 16 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 and data science to innovation and diversity. She is a director on the TechData Corporation’s Board and serves on the Audit and Technology committees. She is also a board member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

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 staff, to come up with new ways of doing things.

Were there lessons you learned in the Navy that have influenced your work at Booz Allen? I’ve only made four important decisions as an adult in my 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 and be apprenticing along the way. You can’t be afraid to challenge yourself and continually improve your skill set so you can continue to be an essential partner to clients.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever gotten? Aim high. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Whether personally or professionally, shoot for the moon. It’s good to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

What did you want to be when you grew up? A Sports Illustrated photographer. I’m a sports geek. I love any kind of sport or sporting event—I’m a die-hard football fan. I figured I’d get free tickets to all of the events!

Do you play sports now? I’m a runner now, but I did play sports—softball and field hockey, tennis, soccer, lots of different things. I’ve run a couple marathons, lots of half marathons, innumerable 10 milers and 10Ks.

Is there a connection for you between the dedication it takes to run a marathon and your work at Booz Allen? For sure. I’m a competitor. I think that comes from being the third of three girls. I’m competitive in every way, and I think that’s helped me push myself.

What was your first job? Working at McDonald’s. That job taught me all about customer service.

What are you nostalgic for? My daughters are now 23 and 20, and I miss the days when they were younger and still at home. They’re kind, gentle, smart, thoughtful young women.

What’s the most influential book you’ve read? Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson. It offers a creative way to ideate and think about hard problems and solve them differently.

What’s an idea or invention you wish you’d thought of? Velcro. I think it’s one of the most useful things we have, and it’s so simple.

What are some of the biggest challenges your clients are facing? It’s the same across all of them: They want a secure and sustainable enterprise. They want to be leveraging technology in creative and holistic ways to get maximum return on their investments. They’re facing huge challenges regarding their workforces and talent, so we’re helping them build human capital and talent strategies. We’re helping them figure out how to continue to pursue their missions in more technologically advanced ways, using things like the explosion of data to find creative solutions to mission 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.