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Karen Webster

Biography

Karen Webster is one of the world’s leading experts on emerging payments and a strategic advisor to CEOs and Boards of multinational players in the payments and commerce space. As the CEO of Market Platform Dynamics, she works extensively with the most innovative players in the payments, financial services, mobile, B2B, digital media and technology sectors to identify, ignite and monetize innovation. Ms. Webster also serves as a member of the board for several emerging companies and helps these innovators develop and implement business strategies that drive market adoption for their products and services.

Karen is also an entrepreneur, who has successfully developed and launched several new ventures in the loyalty, on-line media, and social networking sectors, each of which was focused on introducing disruptive business models and product solutions to fill a market need. This includes PYMNTS.com, the leading media property focused innovation in the payments sector and a joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway’s Business Wire.

Karen is a frequent keynote speaker and author of numerous articles on the sources of innovation, strategy, loyalty, product design/bundling and pricing and platform strategies. Karen was a key contributor to Catalyst Code: The Secrets Behind the World’s Most Dynamic Companies, (Harvard Business School Press, 2007) and is credited with directing the research for the book and devising its trademarked 6-step Framework.

Karen has a long history of consulting, having served as the Managing Director of Global Marketing and Planning for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ US$6 billion management consulting practice and as COO for a US$200 million consulting subsidiary that is part of the MMC family of companies. She was an adjunct faculty member at her alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, where she holds a Masters’ Degree in Marketing and developed and taught graduate level courses on business-to-business marketing.

Karen is a passionate philanthropist and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Board of the Susan G. Komen Advocacy Alliance.