Karen Kessler of Warren has been chosen as one of Jewish Women International’s “10 Women to Watch in 5769.”
October 9, 2008
When her firm moved its offices closer to her home in Warren, life became a little more leisurely for Karen Kessler — but only relatively so. The multi-tasking mother of three still starts her day with a 6 a.m. gym session and serves on numerous nonprofit boards, in addition to being president of the public relations and event planning firm she cofounded 15 years ago.
That ability to run a multi-million-dollar business at the same time as performing service to the community is part of what earned her the selection by Jewish Women International as one of its “10 Women to Watch in 5769.”
The organization, formerly part of B’nai B’rith, in the mid-1990s began honoring 10 women from around the United States for “their inspiring contribution to contemporary life.” Kessler is the only one from New Jersey this year.
The other nine include women involved in health, fashion, media, and Jewish outreach, all of them with some kind of philanthropic involvement.
JWI’s Jewish Woman magazine took note of Kessler’s public relations and event planning for numerous groups, including the American Red Cross, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and a number of Jewish organizations.
“My kids tease me that I’m an adrenaline junkie, but it’s true I love having a lot to do — the faster the better,” she said in a phone interview, managing to sound — as befits a PR expert — as if she had all the time in the world.
Kessler said she was nominated by someone she worked with 20 years ago. Though she has received a number of professional awards, she said, she was astonished and honored when she learned that she had made the final JWI cut. What impressed her most was the caliber of the women among whom she found herself listed.
“It’s going to be hard to understand what I’m doing on the stage with them,” she said, anticipating the Dec. 8 awards ceremony in Washington, DC. “They are such an accomplished, diverse, extremely interesting group of women.”
Her biggest concern now is that her three daughters be able to attend the ceremony so that they too can meet these extraordinary women. Her eldest two, Lisa, 21, and Nina, 19, are in college and might be involved in finals that month, but she is hoping their schedules will allow for the trip to the capital.
On top of all her usual activity, there will be added excitement as the awards ceremony approaches. Kessler’s youngest, 12-year-old Julia, is becoming bat mitzva the week before the Washington event at Temple Har Shalom, the Reform congregation in Warren.
Kessler is vice chair of Atlantic Health and is also serving on the boards of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NJ, the Garden State Arts Center Foundation, and the Drumthwacket Foundation, and is a trustee of scholarship funds at Princeton University and Monmouth University. Kessler’s husband of 26 years, attorney Robert Horowitz, also serves on various boards, including that of the American Jewish Congress.
Kessler grew up in Westfield, with parents and grandparents who were active in their synagogues and the broader Jewish community. From her earliest days, she said, she was an organizer too. As a teenager, she served as an officer in NFTY, the youth group of the Reform movement. “Jewish organizations were where I felt most comfortable,” she said.
After graduating from Vassar College, she worked first for a charitable foundation and then for the NJ Democratic State Committee, becoming within three years the executive director of its northeast regional office. She went on to become vice president of corporate communications for the American Stock Exchange, and then director of transitions in the administration of former NJ governor Jim Florio.
While working there, she met Mindy Cohen, with whom she founded her firm, Evergreen Partners, Inc. She described Cohen as her foremost booster. They shape outreach campaigns, organize gala events and corporate retreats, and generally raise the visibility and strength of their clients.
As busy as she is, Kessler has put her children foremost. She has never missed one of their track meets or other sports matches. That, she said, has been one of her toughest challenges, but it is part of her much broader goal — to model for her girls a commitment to the Jewish ideal of making the world a better place.
That dedication should make her feel right at home with the JWI top 10. “I really want my daughters to meet those women,” she said.
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