Karen Carpenter-Palumbo: From a Leader to a Learner: A Critical Detour that Transformed a Woman’s Path in Public Service

By Antonella Mastroianni

When Karen Carpenter-Palumbo joined the 1990 Class of Fellowship on Women and Public Policy at the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, she expected to deepen her understanding of government. She did not anticipate that the experience would change how she understood leadership itself. The Fellowship asked her to step away from being the person in charge and become a learner again. That shift opened a path to public service, lasting professional relationships and a career devoted to improving systems for New Yorkers. “You can’t underestimate the power, the bond, the classes — all women from different points in life and different backgrounds — all going forward for the same thing: making the world better.”

The Fellowship experience became the foundation for a distinguished career. After the Fellowship, Karen worked in the Governor’s Office as Assistant Secretary for Human Services, became Director of Children and Families at the New York State Office of Mental Health, and later served as Commissioner of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. As commissioner, she oversaw a system of more than 4,000 providers serving over 100,000 New Yorkers each day with preventive treatment and a recovery program. When the Governor asked her to address high smoking rates among people in recovery and treatment programs, Karen organized a statewide effort grounded in research and evidence. The initiative successfully eliminated smoking in those settings and was adopted as a best practice model and was replicated in other states. 

Karen has a distinguished government and organizational track record that spans 30 years. She has held positions for four governors and has been a Chief Executive Officer for over 10 years. For over 20 years, she has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vanderheyden, a child welfare organization serving over 700 individuals and families each day in a variety of educational, residential and community programs. 

Her work demonstrated that effective change requires policy knowledge, credible evidence and the ability to bring institutions and people with you. Karen is chair of the Board of Directors at the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society.

Karen’s Lessons on Becoming Effective Public Service Leaders

Leadership requires the discipline to become a learner 

Stepping out of an established leadership role to become a student again can feel like a loss of status. Karen’s experience shows that it can also create room for observation, curiosity and growth that leadership responsibilities often crowd out.

Before returning to school and entering the Fellowship, Karen was newly married, living in Kingston, New York, and leading a department as a working professional. She was drawn to the program because of its commitment to women’s empowerment. Yet her first days in a policy field placement at the New York State Legislature challenged her expectations. On her first day, she was asked to make copies and take notes. Accustomed to leading, she experienced the assignment as a loss of professional standing. “You want me to make copies? You want me to do this? And you want me to take notes?” she recalled. “Oh my God, what did I do to myself? What did I get myself into?” The disillusionment followed her into the legislative chambers. She entered with tears of excitement, awed by being at the center of New York State government, only to see a legislator casually toss a paper airplane to someone else. The moment punctured her idealized view of institutional power. By the second week, however, Karen had reframed the experience. If no one expected her to provide the answers or make consequential decisions, she was free to ask questions, observe closely, and learn without having to prove herself. “I can sit here and just soak all this in and learn. My eyes were opened, and it was a relief.”

That realization became a turning point. Karen stopped measuring the placement by the authority she had at that moment and began valuing what the experience made possible. She embraced the freedom to be curious, including the freedom to ask what she called the “dumb questions.”

Asking questions is a mandate of leadership

A leader does not need to arrive with every answer. Asking basic questions can reveal how an institution actually works and surface assumptions that insiders no longer notice.

Karen approached the rest of her Fellowship policy field placement with purpose. She embraced all the opportunities afforded her as much as she could, listened carefully, and learned how policy and government worked from the inside. Her leadership experience remained valuable, but becoming a student again expanded her understanding and created opportunities she could not have reached alone without the Fellowship experience. “I didn’t have to be in charge. I didn’t have to know the answer. I could really just breathe it all in and learn, ask questions and attend everything. I didn’t have to give a speech about it. I could really just take it all in and learn. That was pivotal.”

Relationships turn opportunity into access

The Fellowship offered knowledge and experience, but its network helped Karen move from preparation to employment. Relationships are most valuable when they are sustained, reciprocal and used to open doors for others.

As the Fellowship ended, Karen wanted to remain in public service and work in Governor Mario Cuomo’s administration. The relationships she cultivated in the Fellowship helped her reach the people making the decisions. “There were so many people who had contacts and could get me in front of the hiring people, and that was all Fellowship-related. Without the Fellowship, I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career.”

Resilience is fortified by practical support

Karen’s persistence was personal, but it was not solitary. A desk, a phone, a place to think, and mentors who remained present helped her recover after a destabilizing period.

Karen’s career was not a straight line. At one point, she lost her job before the December holidays while also going through a divorce. She kept moving forward, in part because her two children who were her driving force and depended on her. “Some of my friends who don’t have kids say, ‘I don’t know how you did it.’ I did it because I had two kids and I had to keep going. I didn’t have a choice.” Support from mentors mattered. Judith Saidel, a former executive director of the Center, and Katherine Briar-Lawson, dean emeritus and professor at the University at Albany, gave Karen a place to regroup. “They said, ‘You’ve got an office here, you’ve got a desk and you’ve got a phone. Come and sit here until you figure out what you’re going to do.” Their help was simple but concrete. It gave Karen time, stability and a community from which to plan her next step. The experience deepened her commitment to extending the same kind of support to others.

Mentorship creates an obligation to give back     

Karen received guidance at important moments and carried that support forward. Strong networks endure when those who benefit from them become mentors and connectors themselves.

Karen credits the Fellowship with giving her the opportunity to build the career she has had. She also sees participation in its alumnae network as a responsibility. The help she received became a model for how she could support the women who came after her. Fellows enter a network that the Center has cultivated over decades. For Karen, that network was never merely a directory of contacts, it was a community in which people opened doors, offered guidance, and remained available during difficult transitions. “I understand how important programs like a fellowship are, how important being mentored and then being a mentor is. So many women — and men — have embraced me and people in the Fellowship. That has been formative for me.”

System change begins with systems knowledge

To become an effective changemaker requires understanding formal procedures, informal relationships, decision points and the people affected by change. Learning the system is part of gaining the power to improve it.

Karen’s experience taught her that advocacy requires more than commitment to a cause. Changemakers must understand how institutions operate: how a bill becomes law, where decisions are made, and how to build support for an idea. That knowledge enables advocates to work within systems while pressing them to change. “You’ve got to be part of the system and know the system to be able to change the system — and to make change for those you advocate for. You have to really learn and then use that information to make a difference.”

Listen across roles before acting

Karen’s 100-day approach reflects a practical principle: those closest to the work often hold essential knowledge. Leaders make better decisions when they listen broadly before setting a course.

Her approach to leadership begins with listening. When Karen enters a new organization, she develops a 100-day plan and talks with people across roles and levels, from frontline staff to teachers, founders and donors. She asks what works and what people value before deciding what should change. “I go and talk to everybody — inside, outside, the janitor, the teacher, the founder or the donor. I ask, ‘What works? What do you like? If you were CEO, what would you do?’ Only then can you really understand and make change for the better.”

An Enduring Advice to Emerging Women Leaders

More than four decades after its founding, the Fellowship continues because each class joins a community that remains connected across years and careers. Karen describes that connection as a source of pride and a promise of mutual support among women committed to making government and public policy better. “It continues because the connections continue. There’s not one woman I wouldn’t help. There’s a bond because we’re all Fellows.” Her advice to prospective Fellows is direct: “Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. You will never have this kind of chance again.”