Karen Richardson

Karen Richardson
Karen Richardson Wiki Image from BP
Citizenship	American
Education	B.S. in Industrial Engineering, Stanford University
Known for	Executive leadership in the software industry
Awards	Stanford Industrial Engineering Department Award, American Institute of Industrial Engineers (AIIE) Distinction

Karen Richardson is an American industrial engineer and business executive. She serves as an independent non-executive director on the BP board, a position she has held since January 2021. ^[1]

Education

Richardson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. She received awards from the Stanford Industrial Engineering Department and the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. ^[2]

Career

Richardson serves on several corporate boards, including BP, ^[3] Exponent, ^[4] and States Title. ^[5]

Throughout her career, she served as a board member in several companies, including BT Group (2011–2018), ^[6] Worldpay Group plc (2016–2019), and Hi5 Networks Inc. (2008–2011). ^[7]

Richardson held board roles at VirtuOz ^[8] (until 2013), Ayasdi (until 2021), ^[9] HackerRank, i2 Technologies, ^[10] and the San Francisco Opera. ^[11]

In addition to corporate boards, Richardson has served on advisory boards for Proofpoint Inc. and the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University. ^[12] Moreover, she has also served on the advisory board of Silver Lake Partners.

Apart from serving as the chief executive of Epiphany, Inc., she held senior sales positions at Netscape Communications from 1995 to 1998, focusing on telecommunications and financial services sectors. ^[13]

Currently, Richardson serves as an independent non-executive director at BP p.l.c., where she is a member of the audit committee. ^[14] Furthermore, she also works as the lead independent director at Exponent, Inc., having rejoined the board in early 2023 after previously serving as a board member from 2013 to June 2022. ^{[15] [16]} Additionally, she is a partner at Artius Capital Partners ^[17] and a non-executive director at Artius II Acquisition Inc. ^{[18] [19] [20]}

Personal life

Richardson's grandfather was a farmer from Saskatchewan who graduated with a PhD in chemistry from Stanford University. Her mother entered Stanford at age sixteen to study mathematics, and her father is also a Stanford alumnus. ^[21] She is married to Jon Rubinstein, ^[22] former Co-CEO of investment firm Bridgewater Associates. ^[23]

References

1. "Independent non-executive director". BP .
2. "Meet Five Star Mortgage Professional Karen Richardson, an award-winning mortgage professional in Plano, TX". Five Star Professional. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
3. "Karen Richardson - BP Board". BP. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
4. Penman, Hamish (2020-12-18). "BP announces non-executive director appointments and retirements". Energy Voice. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
5. "Karen Richardson joins the States Title board of directors". Business Insider. 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
6. "BRIEF-BT Says Karen Richardson, Tony Ball To Step Down From Board". Reuters. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
7. Social Networking Site Hi5 Nearly Doubles Monthly Visitors, InformationWeek, August 15, 2008
8. VirtuOz press release, 2010-02-12, archived from the original on 2017-09-06, retrieved 2010-02-20
9. "Leadership". Ayasdi. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
10. IBM Completes i2 Acquisition to Expand Big Data Analytics Portfolio for Smarter Cities, 2011-10-05
11. "San Francisco Opera Association Announces New Board President-Elect Keith Geeslin". San Francisco Opera. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
12. "Stanford Technology Ventures Program Advisory Board Web site". Archived from the original on 2014-02-20.
13. "Karen Richardson Biography| Booking Info for Speaking Engagements". www.allamericanspeakers.com. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
14. "Karen Richardson - BP Board". BP. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
15. "Exponent Inc. Board". Exponent. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
16. "Exponent Inc. Announces Board Changes". marketscreener.com. MarketScreener. 2023-02-17. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
17. "Artius Capital - Karen Richardson" . Retrieved 2024-03-10.
18. MarketScreener (2025-02-13). "Artius II Acquisition Inc. Appoints Karen Richardson as A Director | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
19. "Biography - Artius Capital". www.artiuscapital.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
20. "Artius II Acquisition Inc. Announces the Separate Trading of its Class A Ordinary Shares and Rights, Commencing April 7, 2025".
21. "Karen Richardson: A Girl Among Geeks | Stanford eCorner". ecorner-legacy.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-28.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
22. New tech to the arts
23. "Bridgewater Hires Ex-Apple Executive as Co-CEO". Wall Street Journal. March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.