Karen H. Hudson is chief of the Avionics Engineering Division in the Department of the Air Force - Air Force Lifecycle Management Center.
She is the first African American female division chief in the 75-year history of the Air Force engineering functional home office.
Hudson has paved the way for future generations of women and minority professionals in the field. As avionics chief, she manages electrical and computer engineering across multiple Air Force bases.
Her expertise is instrumental in delivering state of the art electronics in aerospace vehicles.
"As the first engineering division chief in my directorate, I have a seat and voice at the table," she said. "I have the technical leadership responsibility for hiring, mentoring, training, promoting, and retaining a diverse engineering workforce of 5,100 engineers across the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center. It is rewarding to guide the careers of others, particularly women of color to strive for leadership positions. This is primarily due to not having the same guidance early in my career. With that in mind, and 34 years behind me, I'm proud to have made a difference in diversity and inclusion for the engineers in the government." Take a listen from the 1:20:20 mark.
