Kara Helander is managing director and chief inclusion and diversity officer at The Carlyle Group. Prior to joining Carlyle, she was a managing director at BlackRock, where she led the firm’s global inclusion and diversity and philanthropy initiatives. She also consulted with organizations to develop corporate social responsibility and diversity strategies.
Helander founded the Science of Diversity and Inclusion (SODI), a coalition of top companies and behavioral scientists working to design and test new approaches to accelerate diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. She also led CSR at Barclay’s Global Investors (BGI). Prior to BGI, she launched and led the Western Region for Catalyst in Silicon Valley.