Karen Muir

A global not for profit business professional, Karen has spent her career helping to build organizations with clear missions and a recognition that we are all part of a global community. Her work has involved helping small business owners recognize that the choices they make in their business, not only affects them but also others in their community. Karen joined Alexandra Cousteau in May 2009 to help launch Blue Legacy International to generate awareness and advocate for change to help protect our global water resources and the lives of those who depend on them. Prior to joining the Blue Legacy team as Chief Operating Officer, she served as part of the senior management team of the International Executive Service Corps, IESC- a not for profit organization helping alleviate poverty in developing countries by working to improve small businesses in communities around the globe.

Born on the eastern shore of Massachusetts, Karen grew up watching the fishing industry ebb and flow and realizing the importance that the ocean plays in the lives of the people there. Karen went on to study zoology at Connecticut College, including a one-year program in sustainable wildlife management in Kenya with the School for Field Studies. This year was key in shaping Karen’s views about how people and the environment are interconnected and only by recognizing that fact, and taking appropriate actions, can real sustainable development occur.

Joining IESC in 1988, Karen worked to help small businesses in developing countries make smart choices when starting or growing a business. By helping private sector businesses grow, but grow responsibly, she was able to show that it is possible to live and grow as a family, a community and a country while still respecting the environment.

With Blue Legacy, Karen is using her skills in not for profit management and global development to help to shape Blue Legacy as a global leader to tell the story of our water planet and to help people connect to water and recognize that what happens in one part of the world does affect others. Blue Legacy is shaping the dialogue about the interconnectivity of water and how we all play a role whether its at a personal, local or global level- in the future of our water resources.