Karen Smith Catlin (born 1963) is an American tech executive and advocate for inclusive workplaces.
She most recently served as a vice president in the Office of the
CTO at
Adobe Systems
Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware
and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...
.
She is a frequent speaker at technology events.
From 1985 to 1990, Catlin worked as a software developer on the
Intermedia
Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe various interdisciplinarity art activities that occur between genres, beginning in the 1960s. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to works ...
system at Brown University. She then joined
Macromedia
Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe Systems ...
in 1993 as an early employee, initially responsible for product localization. She went on to develop the program management discipline for the company and was promoted to the
vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
level, leading shared engineering services across the entire product line. Catlin worked at Macromedia until 2006, when Adobe Systems acquired the company. She was an executive at Adobe Systems from 2006 to 2012, responsible for shared engineering services.
Catlin has published four books: ''Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking'' (coauthored with
Poornima Vijayashanker (2015);
''Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces'' (2019);
''Belonging in Healthcare: The Better Allies® Approach to Creating More Inclusive Workplaces'' (2022);
and ''The Better Allies™ Approach to Hiring'' (2020).
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Catlin, Karen
American women writers
Brown University alumni
American computer scientists
Living people
1963 births
21st-century American women
American women computer scientists