Karen Hughes is Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller. In this role, she provides clients with senior level communications strategy and counsel.
Karen served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy from August 2005 to December 2007. During that time, she led the U.S. State Department’s effort to communicate America’s values abroad.
As Under Secretary, Karen led several thousand public diplomacy professionals working in almost every country in the world, and oversaw three State Department bureaus: Educational and Cultural Affairs, Public Affairs and International Information Programs. Karen has traveled to more than 50 nations in the past few years as part of her government service and personal humanitarian activities.
Karen also served as Counselor to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002. In that role she served as a strategic advisor to the president on policy and communications and managed the White House Offices of Communications, Media Affairs, Speechwriting and Press Secretary.
Karen returned to her native Texas in 2002, but she continued serving as an informal advisor to the President. She also served as a consultant to the successful 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.
From 1995 to 2000, Karen served as the director of communications for Governor Bush in Texas. She is a past Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas and a former television news reporter for the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth.
Karen is a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in journalism. Karen is the author of "Ten Minutes from Normal," a memoir of her experiences working with President Bush.