Speaker
Karen Shadders
Vice President, People Strategy and Development
The Emerson Group
Karen Shadders is a seasoned executive, leadership strategist, and adept at building competitive advantage through people. She currently serves as Vice President of People Strategy and Development at The Emerson Group, where she leads initiatives that strengthen organizational capability, elevate leadership effectiveness, and support the success of purpose-driven consumer brands.
Karen brings more than two decades of executive experience from Wegmans Food Markets, one of Fortune’s most recognized companies for workplace excellence. During her career there, Karen played a key role in Wegmans achieving the #1 ranking on Fortune’s List of Best Companies to Work For. Her leadership spanned Human Resources, Operations, and Merchandising, including serving as Vice President of People, where she shaped talent development, leadership pathways, and employee experience for the entire organization. She later led Wegmans’ Health, Wellness, Home & Entertaining, Merchandising Teams, guiding them through sustained annual growth.
Across her career, Karen has been known for her ability to bridge generations, translate experience into insight, and create conversations that help leaders see both who they are and who they are becoming. As moderator of “Leading Through the Ages: How Women Rise, Adapt, and Lead Across a Lifetime,” she guides a dynamic intergenerational dialogue exploring how leadership evolves, from early-career ambition to the legacy-building years, and how women continue to rise, adapt, and lead with purpose at every stage.