Karen Henken // Team
Karen Henken has over 20 years of experience in a wide range of Silicon Valley’s leading companies as well as startups in the software, hardware and telecommunications industries.
Karen has served in senior management roles as well as a consultant with a range of companies from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Karen founded The Apex Group in 1993 to focus on consulting in sales and marketing strategy to high tech companies. She worked with leading companies such as Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel Networks), Ascend Communications, Fujitsu, Verifone (acquired by Hewlett Packard), Platinum Software, Wyse Technology, as well as many early stage companies.
In 2002, The Apex Group merged with Highland Marketing and formed Highland Team.
Prior to her work as a consultant, Karen served in senior management roles in some of high tech’s most successful companies:
As Vice President of International Sales and Worldwide Channels at Pillar Corporation (acquired by Hyperion), Karen developed European wide distribution channels for the company’s financial planning software products.
As Director of International Sales at Borland, Inc., Karen initiated multinational corporate account, OEM and systems integrator programs across the company’s geographies. Deals and partnerships included Siemens, IBM and Arthur Andersen. She managed the Intercontinental region, covering Japan, Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, doubling sales from $40M to $80M in two years.
As Director of Business Development at Sybase, Inc., Karen developed and managed Sybase’s worldwide indirect channel programs, including VARs and Systems Integrators. Partners included Peoplesoft, Arthur Andersen and Coopers and Lybrand. She also initiated and managed Sybase’s industry marketing programs, including financial services, manufacturing and telecommunications and recruited over 150 world class ISVs to support this effort.
At Sun Microsystems, Karen launched and managed Sun’s Japan subsidiary. She initiated and executed industry marketing programs across the Asia/ Pacific region, teaming with the US and European sales organizations to extend Sun’s leadership position in financial services, manufacturing, oil and gas, and educational markets. She grew revenue from $5M to $400M in 4 years. Closed key deals with Fujitsu and Toshiba for over $500M in revenue commitments and established a joint venture with Fuji Xerox.
Karen holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in Government from Bowdoin College. She received a Fulbright Teaching Felllowship for work in Japan and a Rotary Graduate Fellowship for studies in Tokyo. She speaks fluent Japanese and Spanish.