Karen Walsh

Regent President, University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents

Karen Walsh, who has served on the UW System Board of Regents since 2019, was elected its president in 2022. She is director of the BerbeeWalsh Foundation, a family foundation dedicated to human and animal health and welfare. Since 2006, the foundation has awarded more than $8 million in grants in the state of Wisconsin, including a gift to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics that created the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine. She was a newscaster and reporter for news outlets including Wisconsin Public Radio prior to serving for 23 years in a variety of public information and communications positions at UW–Madison. A native of Columbus, Wisconsin, Walsh holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from UW–Madison.