Charlotte Karam, PhD is a tenured professor at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, where she also holds the Ian Telfer Professorship in Inclusive HR Systems. Charlotte’s work as a scholar-activist contributes to overlapping conversations in inclusive HR systems, business ethics, responsible leadership, public policy, and feminist praxis. 

As the primary investigator, and with a team of co-investigators and interdisciplinary professionals, Charlotte has secured over 11M in external impact-research grants from different international and intergovernmental agencies including, the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, the U.S. Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI), UN Women, UNDP, and others including the EU, Arab Fund, Governments of Canada, Sweden and Lebanon. Her current work focuses on economic and workplace inclusion of women and other historically marginalized communities, with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The first phase of this work led to the development of The KIP and Lived Experience Indices in 2019- the first sector-based measures of women’s recruitment, retention, and promotion in MENA workplaces. The indices were recognized by AACSB International with a 2022 International’s “Innovations That Inspire” Award and they have been featured in international media. In 2021, she led the second phase, The SAWI Project, focused on mobilizing regional decision makers and leaders across six sectors to engage in localized strategies for building more inclusive HR systems and workplace cultures. This work was recognized in 2022 as  one of AACSB International’s Innovations that Inspire, and Charlotte was recognized as a one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy by Apolitical, and on the Bath University’s Thinklist 30.

Dr. Karam’s also researches gender-based violence in the workplace integrating critical feminist analytic tools to better explore the intersection between power, gender, and structural barriers at the national and HR levels. This work served as a basis for activism, including playing an active role in drafting anti-SH legislation in Lebanon, mobilizing to achieve the passing of a law in Dec 2020, and working with employers for its implementation. The successes of this ongoing project have been globally recognized, first in 2018 by AACSB International’s Innovations That Inspire Award, and by the U.S. Department of State as a ​Global Gender Champion, and by the University of Ottawa with the 2022 Knowledge Mobilization Excellence Award. This work has been highly featured in the international media, such as CNN, Al Jazeera, and Reuters. 

Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, Charlotte was a tenured professor at the Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut where she spent over thirteen years and served as Department Chair, Associate Dean of Programs, and founding director of the Center of Inclusive Business and Leadership (CIBL) for Women. Her leadership as the founding director of CIBL was honored in 2018 by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development with the Distinguished Scholar Award and in 2019 by being invited as a member for the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council and the board of the PRME working group on Business for Peace.  

Dr. Karam continues to be affiliated with AUB as an adjunct professor, and as a founding member of Khaddit Beirut​, started in response to the August 4th, 2020 Beirut port explosion.