Karen Hunter was a long-standing director on CCC’s Board who I was very fortunate to work with, and who served as a mentor to me.  Karen was an icon in the publishing industry where she worked for more than 40 years, mostly with Elsevier, where she was one of the first female Senior Vice-Presidents.  At Elsevier, she initiated the industry-leading print-to-electronic journal projects TULIP and PEAK, and led the team that developed ScienceDirect. 

Karen participated in the leadership of numerous industry initiatives designed to ensure digital preservation.  She served on many industry boards, including CrossRef, ORCID, CLOCKSS, International DOI Foundation and Copyright Clearance Center, where she was recently made director emeritus. 

Karen was an innovative and collaborative leader who was a trusted mentor for numerous women in scientific publishing.  Always gracious with her time and straight-forward with her advice, Karen was invested in helping other women advance their careers.  Through her pioneering roles as product, strategy and senior executive leader, she cleared a path for all women in the industry for which I, for one, will be forever grateful.

Karen touched many lives in such a positive way.  Karen’s husband, Pat Bowen, passed away earlier this year.  They shared a personal commitment to jazz music.  Prior to their passing, Karen and Pat made a substantial donation of their large and historically important archival collection of musical arrangements to the Rutgers-Newark Institute of Jazz Studies. 

Given Karen’s commitment to library preservation and to jazz, CCC has made a donation to the Jazz Institute to help preserve the archival collection that Karen and Pat donated.

Karen’s mark on the industry will continue in so many ways.  She will be missed.  I imagine Karen and Pat are together now, listening to the jazz music they loved.



Tracey Armstrong

President and CEO, Copyright Clearance Center