Karen A. Kirkwood
Karen A. Kirkwood serves as vice president of corporate communications for Thermo Fisher Scientific. Kirkwood joined the company in 1985 when it was Thermo Electron, spending nearly 16 years in corporate communications and investor relations in positions of increasing responsibility. In the last few years, she served as director of corporate communications for the parent company and its 22 public subsidiaries. In 2001, she left to run a communications consulting business for five years, serving a number of public-company clients, including Thermo. Kirkwood rejoined the company in 2006 at the time of the merger that created Thermo Fisher Scientific. In her current role, Kirkwood is responsible for the company’s corporate public relations, government relations and employee communications activities, as well as supporting investor relations. Karen earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the National Investor Relations Institute.
