Karen Blackett

Karen Blackett, speaker and advertising industry CEO.

Karen Blackett is an inspirational leader with a long-standing track record in creating winning business cultures and is famed for consistently delivering business growth and success. She is the former UK President for adverting giant WPP, an NED for Creative UK, Diageo and a former non-executive director at the UK The Cabinet Office. She is Chancellor of The University of Portsmouth and Karen co-founded The Black Equity Organisation.

Karen Blackett has a track record of delivering growth and returns by focusing on brand reinvention, brand salience, operational excellence and organisational transformation. She is known for her transformative work with large, complex, multi disciplined and diverse businesses.

As the former UK president for WPP, Karen was responsible for managing US$2 billion of revenue and 13,000 people. Karen also has extensive multinational experience having served previously as MediaCom’s EMEA Chief Operating Officer. She currently sits on the advisory council of SXSW and the board of The British Fashion Council.

Karen has served as Business Ambassador for the Prime Minister’s Office and as an external advisor helping to diversify the make up of the Civil Service. She was appointed as Race Equality Business Champion by the then Prime Minister as part of the Race at Work Charter in 2018 helping UK businesses to address inequalities at every level.

Karen is also a non-executive board member for Creative England, the MOBO Trust, and The Creative Industry Federation. In 2018 she was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth. Karen received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours and was honoured by INvolve – The Inclusion People’s List and came in at #1 for the Top 100 Women Executives. She was awarded Freedom of the City of London, and in 2025 received a CBE for services to Advertising and The Creative Industries in the King’s New Years honours.

Karen is a great business leader with a superb track record in leading creative working cultures, energising teams, and delivering profitable business growth. With a quarter of a century of success in the media industry Karen Blackett speaks today with a wealth of ideas, authority, and unparalleled experience.

Specialist Speakers presented Karen Blackett as the finale keynote speaker at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Conference 2025 at The Minster Building in the City of London.

Contact Karen Blackett as a speaker via a Specialist Speakers agent on +44 [0]1455 633289.

Data and photo courtesy of The Speaking Office.