Karen Kaufman, M.S.O.D.


President, Co- Founding Principal, KPartners

Karen Kaufman co-founded The Kaufman Partnership with Donald Kaufman in 1985. Don passed away after a long illness in 2019. In 2020, Karen rebranded the company as KPartners and brought on David Grad as a senior facilitator and executive coach.

An executive coach, consultant and keynote speaker specializing in Impression and Relationship Management, Karen has led more than 1000 seminars and provided more than 20,000 hours of individual consultation and executive coaching over three decades.

Karen’s expertise includes executive presence and presentation, organizational dynamics, leadership acceleration and organizational transformation. She creates an environment of trust and intimacy so that clients can explore and accelerate their leadership capacity and produce extraordinary outcomes for their organizations.

Karen coaches executives and talented leaders in large-scale healthcare systems, global manufacturing companies, technology, the pharmaceutical industry, international financial services firms and global specialty chemical companies. She works closely with corporate clients to develop custom programs that supplement their existing leadership development curricula.

Karen is a contributing author to six books on topics including executive leadership, communication, executive appearance and women in partnership. Among these are: Role Development for Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practices; Women in Partnership; Female Body: A Head to Toe Guide to Good Health and Body Care at Any Age; Work Sister Work – How Black Women Can Get Ahead in Today’s Business Environment; Selling the Right Way and Before You Say A Word.

Karen earned an M.S. in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Business Administration from Philadelphia University.

David Grad, M.S.


Executive Vice President, KPartners

David Grad brings the skills of a strategic communication consultant, executive producer, actor and corporate leader to his work as a facilitator and coach. Trained to leverage the Kaufman Impression Management System and Brain-Based Conversation Skills as a certified Brain-Based Coach from the NeuroLeadership Institute, his multidisciplinary training and over 25 years of professional experience have provided him with diverse perspectives on the many dynamic elements needed to strengthen leadership presence, communicate effectively, and fully embody the role of a leader.

David facilitates leadership presence programs and coaches executives and emerging leaders to better understand the perceptual, cognitive, behavioral and emotional factors that support their leadership roles. His expertise in strategic communication and storytelling enables him to coach his clients to influence, inspire and more authentically connect with the many stakeholders critical to their individual success and that of their teams and organizations.

As a founding partner in the digital learning company Elevator9, David is pioneering new ways to bridge traditional in-person learning with digital and virtual technology to create more effective learning solutions.

A frequent speaker, David is also a professor in the graduate programs of Glasgow Caledonian New York College. He designed and teaches the course, Values-Based Leadership Skills for an Interconnected World, which is required for all students enrolled in the college’s three master’s degree programs.

David holds an M.S. in Strategic Communication from Columbia University and B.A.’s in Mass Communication and Theatre from Florida State University. He is a graduate of the acting program at the prestigious William Esper Studio in New York City.