Karen Petersen
Special ProjectsKaren Petersen joined the Office of the Bishop in December 2025 and moved to full time in May 2026. She provides project management support to governance activities, including Convention and Governing Bodies; and special projects within the Office of the Bishop and across the Diocese. She is excited about this new chapter in her life of supporting the Diocese of Olympia and feels deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve God’s purposes across our beloved community.
Karen is a member of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, actively participating in the Center for Spirituality and Action, Worship Leader ministry, Eucharistic Visitor ministry, and lay leadership for the Eucharistic Ministers. Karen has deep experience in The Episcopal Church including creating a master of ceremonies ministry that combined elements of deacon, sacristan, altar guild, chalice bearer, and acolyte duties / leadership, and a good dose of jack-of-all-trades in her former parish Prince of Peace Episcopal Church, Woodland Hills, CA. That experience instilled a deep love of the Eucharist and service.
Karen is a retired rocket scientist, systems engineer, and project manager and has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from University of Washington, MS in Systems Architecture & Engineering from USC, and an MBA from UCLA. For the last 15 years of their lives, she was caregiver to her beautiful singing mom, Rebecca, and Norwegian dad, Sigmund, who have gone on to be with our Lord. Karen also has a passion for dog sports with her fun Bernese Mountain Dogs and has participated with her dogs in conformation, obedience, rally, agility, coursing, herding, tricks, and carting sports. She has been involved in the carting sport as a competitor, organizer, teacher, and judge and loves to help people partner with their dogs to bring out their working instincts.
- kpetersen@ecww.org
- 206.325.4200 x2021