Karen Jones, Ph.D.

Corporate Director, Office of Diversity
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Rochester Region

Karen Jones, Ph.D. is a 2006 addition to the Office of Diversity at Lifetime Healthcare Companies after serving at St. John Fisher College as the CONNECT Program Director and before that nearly four years as the Cultural Relations Specialist/Senior Human Resource Business Analyst for a local telecommunications company where she was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Company's Corporate Culture and other global initiatives and projects that impact the company's strategic goals, particularly its diversity initiatives. Her employment history also includes 17 years of higher education experience serving in various capacities. Additionally, she served as the Director of Leadership and Community Development at SUNY Brockport where she was responsible for campus-wide diversity and leadership initiatives, International Student Services, in addition to having served as the Coordinator for Disability Services/ADA Compliance.
Dr. Jones has and continues to serve on a variety of boards. For the last 6 years, she has been a member of the External Advisory Board for the Upward Bound Program (MCC-Damon City Campus). She has served as a facilitator for the Faith Community Alliance's Education Committee, and was a board member of the Rochester Step-Off Committee. She also was a member of the Rochester Commission on Race and Ethnicity which helped with the formation of the City's Bi-Racial Partnership Initiative.
Karen earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Buffalo, and holds an M.S. Education in Counselor Education from SUNY College at Brockport and a B.S. in Criminal Justice from SUNY College at Buffalo, where she also became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She also has made several local and national presentations on the topics relating to Harassment Free-Work Place, diversity, and Black Males and Higher Education (Theories of Retention).
Dr. Karen Jones, originally from White Plains, New York is married to Roderick Jones, and has three children. She and her family are active members of Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, where she sings in the church choir, and serves as the Church Secretary. She and her husband, and their children reside in Rochester.