University of Lethbridge alumna Karen Wauters (BMgt ’83) brings people and ideas together to make the world around her better. As a barrier breaking Chartered Professional Accountant, long-serving volunteer and now government representative, Wauters’ commitment to connectivity, equality and inclusivity has permeated everything she touches. The University of Lethbridge will recognize Wauters with an honorary degree at Spring 2024 Convocation.
“Karen Wauters truly embodies the liberal education philosophy of the University of Lethbridge,” says ULethbridge Chancellor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94). “A highly skilled business executive who paved the way for women to take leadership roles in the accounting field, she has been a supportive mentor who has advanced gender equality, all while volunteering in her community in a variety of roles. We are proud to recognize her contributions with an honorary degree.”
The University of Lethbridge will present Karen Wauters with an honorary Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at Spring 2024 Convocation, Ceremony II, on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. in the 1st Choice Savings Centre gymnasium.
Karen Wauters
Whether it be professionally as a barrier breaking Chartered Professional Accountant, personally as a partner and mother or publicly as an erstwhile and long-serving volunteer and now government representative, Karen Wauters (BMgt ’83) brings people and ideas together to make the world around her better.
A graduate of the University of Lethbridge’s then Faculty of Management, Wauters quickly established herself as a highly skilled and innovative professional accountant. Her career aspirations led her overseas, first to London and then to Luxembourg where she embarked on a remarkable 30-year career with Ernst & Young LLP.
Her professional career was exemplary and crashed through the glass ceiling in the corporate boardroom. Wauters became the first female partner in the Luxembourg office of Ernst & Young, one of the world’s largest international accounting firms, served seven years as the firm’s Talent Leader — Tax for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and drove key mobility, diversified learning and change management initiatives as well as the global Young Tax Professional competition. Remarkably, she accomplished all of this after learning to speak French fluently and write her foreign accreditation exams in her new foreign language.
Throughout her work, Wauters epitomized the role of mentor for many professionals, entrepreneurs, volunteers and businesspeople, focusing her efforts on supporting startup businesses and especially those led by women and youth. As a volunteer, she lent her time and expertise to furthering the advancement of gender equality, including serving as a board member of Time for Equality and fostering partnerships with several similar NGOs within and outside Luxembourg.
In her private life, Wauters is a devoted mother who also found time to take up a new sport — curling. Upon learning the game, her interests naturally turned to volunteering and creating connections. She has served as President of the Luxembourg Ice Sport Federation and as a volunteer with the World Curling Federation, recently as a member of the WCF’s Structural Review Group and the Nominations Committee and has been a strong proponent of enhancing access and inclusion in the sport and growing the game in Luxembourg and internationally.
Now retired, she continues to apply her special skills as Honorary Canadian Counsel to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The consummate professional, she continues to positively impact those with whom she assists, helping people navigate immigration issues, document certification and assisting travelling Canadians in distress, all the while promoting trade and fellowship between Canada and Luxembourg.
To view online: https://www.ulethbridge.ca/unews/article/commitment-career-and-community-earns-alumna-karen-wauters-honorary-degree-recognition
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Our University’s Blackfoot name is Iniskim, meaning Sacred Buffalo Stone. The University is located in traditional Blackfoot Confederacy territory. We honour the Blackfoot people and their traditional ways of knowing in caring for this land, as well as all Indigenous Peoples who have helped shape and continue to strengthen our University community.
