Answering the Call

In 2017, Karen Dunn Kelley ‘82 VSB left the asset management industry after more than 30 years and several senior leadership roles for a role in public service. Such a significant shift might prove challenging for some, but the deputy secretary of Commerce attributes her success to the values that underpinned her education at the Villanova School of Business.

Kelley’s success comes from a strong sense of self. As early as age five, Kelley knew she wanted to spend her life working with numbers and gravitated to subjects that today would be considered STEM-related. When it came for college, she looked no further than VSB, knowing from her father, William Thomas Dunn ‘55 VSB and her sister, Janine Dunn Wade ‘81 VSB, that an education grounded in the Augustinian commitment to truth, community and love would take her far.

In fact, it took her very far. After starting her career in fixed income investing at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Kelley joined AIM investments in 1989 as a portfolio manager and subsequently assumed a series of leadership roles. When Invesco merged with AIM in 1997, she remained a senior leader and CEO of global fixed income. She later served as a senior managing director of Global Investments with responsibility for overseeing Invesco’s Global Equity, Quantitative Strategies, Asset Allocation and Solutions teams, and also held several board positions.

“When I entered asset management, everything was new…. I had to navigate the development of everything from the mobile phone to the internet, not to mention a more global marketplace. Villanova taught me how to adapt… and succeed in any business environment,” the deputy secretary shared. Kelley joined the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2017 as the undersecretary of Economic Affairs and later that year, she was appointed as the deputy secretary of Commerce. “I am proud of the small role I play in serving alongside my colleagues to carry out the Department’s mission to create the conditions of economic growth and opportunity.”

Today she believes ardently in her purpose in the Commerce Department, which includes overseeing job creation, trade enforcement, weather prediction and research for cutting-edge technologies, among other things.

Right now, the 2020 Decennial Census is among the deputy secretary’s top priorities to ensure the data reflects those hard-to-count individuals who are most in need of assistance.

“Young children, aged 0 to 5, are one of the most undercounted populations in the United States, which is a critical area in need of fixing,” the deputy secretary explained.

“By working to ensure that we count the most vulnerable among us, we are protecting access to resources the next generation needs to succeed.”

Originally published in the Summer 2019 Issue of Villanova Business magazine.