Karen Walker

Karen Walker is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Sysdig, a cloud security company. She assumed this role in 2021 to lead the company's growth and financial strategy.14 Here are some key details about Karen Walker:

Professional Background

Karen has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, accounting, compliance, and investor relations.1 Her expertise spans both pre-IPO and public companies, with a focus on scaling finance teams in high-growth and global environments.

Previous Roles::

• SVP Finance at PagerDuty
• VP Chief Accounting Officer at Pandora
• Corporate Controller at Uber Technologies
• Held executive positions at CBS Interactive and Virgin America12

Achievements and Expertise

• Led early IPO readiness efforts for Uber and Virgin America
• Drove M&A activities, including Pandora Media's sale to Sirius XM
• Built and led investor relations at PagerDuty
• Skilled in strategic financial planning and leadership in high-growth environments2

Leadership Style and Philosophy

Karen describes her leadership style as both transformational and servant-oriented. She emphasizes:

1. Building and creating a vision for her team
2. Coaching and involving team members in the vision-building process
3. Motivating people and building cohesive teams connected to the mission4

Views on AI and Cybersecurity

As CFO, Karen advocates for:

• Focusing on ROI measurement for AI-driven productivity gains
• Ensuring expected outcomes from AI implementations
• Emphasizing governance in the evolving AI landscape
• Strategically incorporating AI into business functions, particularly in cybersecurity3

Personal Interests

Outside of her professional life, Karen is actively involved in charitable causes. She participates in the ALS Network's Ride, Walk & Roll to Cure ALS event in Napa Valley, having completed it 11 times. This involvement is personal for her, as her mother was diagnosed with ALS.5