Graduation

Karen Gerwitz, President & CEO, World Trade Center Denver 

Karen Gerwitz has over 35 years’ international business experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Her position as President & CEO for the World Trade Center Denver the past 14 years is a culmination of her various roles in furthering international business connections and working with diverse audiences worldwide. Her enthusiastic vision for how Denver can become a more globally-conscious city is what is driving the organization to be the namesake tenant in the new 41-acre development in the Globeville neighborhood near downtown Denver. With business development, strategic growth and marketing as her core expertise, Karen ran a sawmill in Ghana right out of college through the AIESEC program and supported the international public relations of a science institute in Vienna, Austria. In Colorado, she worked in multiple sectors including: IT, Aerospace, Business Services and Government. Her protocol and international cultural expertise prepared her well to plan the official visits of the Emperor and Empress of Japan, the G8 Summit, the Western Hemisphere Ministerial Summit, and hundreds of other delegations. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in International Business from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Later, she earned her Masters of Public Administration, with an emphasis on multidisciplinary dialogue and deliberation, from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver, where she currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Advisors. Karen was also elected among her peers worldwide to serve on the global board of directors of the World Trade Centers Association and chairs the North American Regional Council of World Trade Centers. She is married to her husband, Elie Mardiros, for the past 20 years and enjoys traveling, being a grandmother and walking through City Park in Denver.