Karen Tandy has more than 40 years of leadership experience in the public and private sectors with executive board experience serving on for-profit and nonprofit boards. She is the principal of KPT Consulting LLC, a government affairs consulting firm in the Washington DC area, and Executive Vice President of tele-health firm, NLW Partners.
During her public service, Ms. Tandy was appointed by President Bush and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate as the first female to head the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), where she managed a $2.2 billion budget and led more than 10,000 employees in 86 global offices. Before that, Ms. Tandy was Associate Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton and Bush Administrations with responsibility for anti-money laundering, counter-drug policy and DEA regulatory oversight. She also led the nationwide Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces and served for more than 15 years as a federal prosecutor.
Ms. Tandy remains active on public safety boards. In 2020, Ms. Tandy was appointed by U.S. Congress to the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking. She also is the Vice Chair of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council, appointed during the Obama, Trump and Biden Administrations. Ms. Tandy is the former Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. She also has chaired several Homeland Security Advisory Council subcommittees on the use of privatized immigration detention facilities and on the Customs and Border Protection’s use of force and handling of families and children at the Southwest Border.