Karen Kalantzis is the new Senior Business Counselor for Frederick County. She is an experienced small business community builder with a demonstrated history of working in program development. Most recently, she was the Director, Community Programs for the Business Innovation Network, Montgomery County’s business incubator program where she created training classes and provided business technical assistance to members.
Prior to that, she worked for Montgomery County’s Department of Economic Development as a program manager for the Silver Spring and Wheaton Innovation Centers. She joined the small business ecosystem after starting an IT company called Corporate Network Services in 1993 with her business partner. The company was a Maryland Certified Woman Owned Small Business, named to the Inc. 5000 fastest growing businesses list, and a winner of numerous Best Place to Work awards.
A native Chicagoan, Karen earned a Bachelor of Science from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and an MBA from George Washington University. She is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery Core Class of 2018. On a personal note, Karen has three adult children, loves to travel and often visits the local beaches.