Karen Banks

Biography

Karen is a director of GreenNet, a small non-profit ISP in London, and a founding member of APC. From 1990 to 1997 she worked with colleagues from APC member organisations and partners in the global south and north, building and promoting connectivity in Africa, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe using store and forward technologies (fidonet and UUCP).  In 1993, she formed, along with other women colleagues from APC, the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP). In 1995, APC WNSP led an all-women team of 40 to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, where they provided email and web access to over 10,000 delegates. With other women's rights groups, the APC WNSP also successfully lobbied for the inclusion of "Media and Communications" as a new chapter in the Beijing Platform for Action – the first global intergovernmental policy to reference the importance of women's right to access new technologies. Karen coordinated the APC WNSP from 1996 to 2004. Since 2004, Karen has managed various national, regional and global ICT policy advocacy and capacity-building projects and processes for APC. This included coordination of APC's participation in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and OECD meetings. She was a member of the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), and was awarded the Anita Borg Social Impact Award with the APC WNSP in 2004. She is currently APC's director of operations.

Purpose of position

The director of operations is responsible for oversight and development of systems, policies and procedures that guide and respond to APC's governance, resource mobilisation, finance, human resources, operational, logistical and administrative needs and areas of work. She is also responsible for ensuring APC meets its statutory responsibilities as a 501 3 (c) charity.

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