Karen D. Gephardt

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Gephardt</h1> <p class="dark medium margin-top-half-em">Member, CNAS Board of Directors</p> <p class="dark medium margin-top-half-em">Founder and Managing Director, Fusion Partners</p> <ul class="profile-meta"> <li> <span class="sprite -email "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#email"></use> </svg> </span> <span>Press: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a7c4c8cacad4e7c4c9c6d489c8d5c0">[email protected]</a></span> </li> <li> <span class="sprite -camera "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#camera"></use> </svg> </span> <a href="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/portraits/Karen-Seitz_620x932-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" title="High-res Photo for Karen D. Gephardt">View High-res Photo</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="wrapper"> <div class="wysiwyg margin-vertical"> <p>In January 2010, Karen D. Gephardt founded Fusion Partners. Fusion Partners is a global advisory and private placement firm, primarily raising capital for alternative investment opportunities. Its efforts are focused on a broad range of institutional investors, including public and corporate pension funds, foundations and endowments, and sovereign wealth funds.</p> <p>Prior to Fusion Partners, Karen headed the Pensions, Endowments and Foundations Group for the Securities Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co., until mid-2009. Karen joined Goldman Sachs in 1997 to work on firm wide projects and moved to the Pension Services Group in 1998. She served as Chief Operating Officer of the Firmwide Marketing Committee from 2000 to 2002. Karen became a Managing Director in 1999 and a Partner in 2004. During this time, she was the head of the Pensions, Endowments and Foundations Group for North America. She served on the Retirement Committee from 2001 to 2009.</p> <p>Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Karen was a Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Business Development at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. from 1995 to 1997. Before coming to Wall Street, she spent close to ten years with the General Electric Company and GE Capital.</p> <p>In June 2015, she joined the board of The Museum of American Finance. Karen serves on the boards of The Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation (since 2005) and buildOn (since 2012). </p> <p>Previous boards included The Forum for Youth Investment (2005-2016); The Asia Group in Washington, DC (2013-2015); The League Treatment Center (1998-2012); The New School University (2003-2009); and Mannes College of Music (2003-2006). In addition, she served on the Steering Committee of the Kilts Center for Marketing at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (2008-2012) and was a non-executive director of FRM Holdings Limited (2011-2012) prior to the sale of the company.</p> <p>Karen earned a BS degree from Iona College in 1984 and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1986. </p> </div> <p class="center"><a href="https://cnas.secure.force.com/donate" class="button -solid">Support CNAS</a></p> </div> </main> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer__inner"> <dl class="footer__contact-info"> <dt class="screenreader-only">Address:</dt> <dd> <span class="sprite -pin "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#pin"></use> </svg> </span> <span> Center for a New American Security<br> 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW<br> Suite 700<br> Washington, DC 20006 </span> </dd> <dt class="screenreader-only">Phone:</dt> <dd> <span class="sprite -phone "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#phone"></use> </svg> </span> <span>(202) 457-9400</span> </dd> <dt class="screenreader-only">Email:</dt> <dd> <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#71181f171e31121f10025f1e0316"> <span class="sprite -email "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#email"></use> </svg> </span> <span><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="462f282029062528273568293421">[email protected]</span></span> </a> </dd> </dl> <ul class="footer__social-nav"> <li> <a href="https://twitter.com/cnasdc"> <span class="sprite -twitter "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#twitter"></use> </svg> </span> <span>Twitter</span> </a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/center-for-a-new-american-security/"> <span class="sprite -linkedin "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#linkedin"></use> </svg> </span> <span>LinkedIn</span> </a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc"> <span class="sprite -youtube "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#youtube"></use> </svg> </span> <span>YouTube</span> </a> </li> <li> <a href="https://instagram.com/cnasdc"> <span class="sprite -instagram "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#instagram"></use> </svg> </span> <span>Instagram</span> </a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CNASdc"> <span class="sprite -facebook "> <svg width="16" height="16" class="svgsprite"> <use xlink:href="/assets/images/icons.svg?v=2#facebook"></use> </svg> </span> <span>Facebook</span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="footer__supplementary-nav"> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/mission">About</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/events">Events</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/careers/internships">Internships</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/careers">Careers</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/support-cnas">Support CNAS</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/join">Subscribe</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/press">Press</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.cnas.org/contact">Contact</a></li> </ul> <p class="footer__copyright"> © 2025 Center for a New American Security. </p> </div> <div class="return-top"> <a href="#top" title="Return to top"> <img class="return-top-icon" alt="Return to top" src="/assets/images/return-top-white.png"> </a> </div> </footer> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script><script src="https://www.cnas.org/assets/javascripts/app-83c83bd3c129aa526fb9.js"></script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"http://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","author":{"@id":"#identity"},"copyrightHolder":{"@id":"#identity"},"copyrightYear":"2019","creator":{"@id":"#creator"},"dateCreated":"2019-05-23T16:42:45-04:00","dateModified":"2025-02-05T10:50:43-05:00","datePublished":"2019-05-28T08:00:00-04:00","description":"In January 2010, Karen D. Gephardt founded Fusion Partners. Fusion Partners is a global advisory and private placement firm, primarily raising capital for alternative investment opportunities. Its efforts are focused on a broad range of institutional investors, including public and corporate pension funds, foundations and endowments, and sovereign wealth funds. Prior to Fusion Partners, Karen headed the Pensions, Endowments and Foundations Group for the Securities Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co., until mid-2009. Karen joined Goldman Sachs in 1997 to work on firm wide projects and moved to the Pension Services Group in 1998. She served as Chief Operating Officer of the Firmwide Marketing Committee from 2000 to 2002. Karen became a Managing Director in 1999 and a Partner in 2004. During this time, she was the head of the Pensions, Endowments and Foundations Group for North America. She served on the Retirement Committee from 2001 to 2009. 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Karen D. Gephardt | CNAS