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Karen King is a Senior Partner and a member of the six-person Management Committee of Silver Lake, the global technology investment firm.
Karen joined Silver Lake over two decades ago and has been involved in numerous transactions for the firm, including Dell, Skype, and Broadcom/VMware. She currently represents Silver Lake on the boards of Relativity, the legal data intelligence leader, Qualtrics, the category creator of Experience Management, and Endeavor, the global sports and entertainment platform. Previously, she also served as a director on the boards of enterprise software companies, Aras and Serena Software, where she led the successful sales of those businesses.
As the Chief Operating Officer, Karen helps oversee all aspects of the firm’s day-to-day internal operations. Regularly called upon to help solve difficult, complicated and/or sensitive matters, Karen also frequently advises directors and senior management of many of Silver Lake’s portfolio companies. She has been involved in multiple acquisitions, divestitures, fundraisings, IPO processes, and various other major and complex transactions.
Outside of her role at Silver Lake, Karen serves as an independent director on the board of Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN). She is also a Trustee of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation and a member of the investment collective, Broadway Angels.
Karen graduated from Duke University in 1994 with a degree in Public Policy and a certificate in German, including studying abroad with Duke in Berlin. She previously served on the Board of Visitors (BOV) for Duke’s Trinity College and before that on the BOV for Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy. She has been actively involved in supporting the Duke Science & Technology Initiative (DST) and the Duke Technology (DTech) Scholars program. She is also an avid supporter of Duke Athletics.
In addition, Karen is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she is a reunion Co-Chair of her graduating class. In addition, Karen was previously the Chair of the Board for Menlo School. She also served on the Investment Committee for Sacred Hearts Schools – Atherton. In addition, she is on the Executive Advisory Board of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business. Karen was also formerly the Board Chair for the American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley (ALF). She has also served on the Silicon Valley Leadership Council of the Global Fund for Children.
Karen lives in Silicon Valley. Her husband, Greg, was formerly the General Counsel of Veritas Technologies and before that an SVP at Symantec. Their daughter, Caroline, graduated from Duke in May 2024 and is now teaching 3rd grade at Chadwick, an international school in Korea. Their son, Charlie, is a senior at Duke who is majoring in computer science with a focus on AI/ML and is a former member of the Duke football team.
Elected to the Duke University Board of Trustees in 2022, Karen serves as Chair of the Finance Committee and on the Executive Committee and Audit and Compliance Committee.
July 2026