Empowering humans through transition is a consistent thread in Karen Scott’s impactful career. With 20+ years as an Occupational Therapist, Karen’s experience spans clinical, operational, and executive leadership roles, always with a unique attunement.
As the Program Director of a locked neuro-behavioral treatment center, Karen led a multidisciplinary team, ensuring the safety and quality of life for marginalized adults with severe brain injuries and behavioral challenges. Under her leadership, the program was client and healing-centered, rooted in meaningful engagement and belonging, and the facility received Medicare’s highest rating.
In 2020, Karen joined Bitwise Industries, where, as the Director of Operations, she fostered relationships and programs that expanded opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds to enter careers in technology. She developed processes for inclusive recruiting and continuity of student support that reinforced participants’ sense of belonging throughout their transition to new roles and expanded identities. Karen’s deep understanding of human systems and behaviors was instrumental as she later led the company’s return-to-office program. Her role further expanded to the Vice President of Well-being, where she channeled her love for creating conditions for safety and transformation to designing employee-informed mental health and well-being programs. These programs were consistently utilized by entry-level staff and executives at rates 36x higher than the company’s EAP.
Her superpower is crafting sustainable multifaceted strategies while staying focused on the diverse humans and the dreams and needs of the communities they are a part of.
Overall, Karen infuses humanity into the workplace.
A simple belief transformed Kennan Scott’s career trajectory: every student’s unique story deserves space to flourish. With this conviction, he transitioned from civil engineer to middle school educator to directly impact young lives. As the Engineering and Computer Science teacher at West Oakland Middle School, he expanded mindsets, guiding students to evolve from consumers to creators of technology.
As the Computer Science Education Manager for Oakland Unified School District, Kennan led high-impact initiatives that extended learning far beyond the classroom. He organized field trips and job shadows and spearheaded innovative programming to make computer science relevant to students. His efforts ensured over 4,000 students received high-quality computer science instruction. Kennan played a pivotal role in advancing the professional development of teachers while forming partnerships with public, private, and nonprofit entities. He also managed a substantial Intel grant that enabled year-round opportunities, including mentorship, summer training, and internships for students, expanding their exposure to real-world tech careers.
In 2020, Kennan joined Bitwise Industries, driven by a commitment to break down barriers and create pathways to tech careers for Bay Area residents. As Vice President, he led the successful expansion of the Oakland team, which became the company’s largest City expansion team. Most of those hired locally were technologists trained through Bitwise’s pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. Kennan’s leadership fostered a strong, intergenerational learning community where diverse journeys were embraced, and authenticity and mutual respect thrived.
Simply put, Kennan embodies the transformative power of belief in every human's potential.
Facilitated emotional container bolstering resilience + well-being
Potent support for people moving through change Reinforces practices of non-judgemental listening + emotional boundaries
A space for validation + peer resourcing Designed for scaled impact through a train-the-trainer model
Offer organizational insights into the human climate while highlighting team + systemic improvement areas Well matched to today’s pace + climate of uncertainty
