Karen Wright

Chairman, President at Ariel

Karen Buchwald was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, lived in Springfield Ohio from age 4-12, and returned with her family to Mount Vernon in 1966, the same year Ariel Corporation was founded. Karen graduated from St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN with a degree in ethology (wildlife research), and moved back to Mount Vernon in 1980 to begin her career at Ariel Corporation. From 1983 to 1997, she worked part-time while raising her four sons. She believes her experience juggling motherhood, part-time work in the family business and the general onslaughts of life, served as the best training possible for her current job, since 2001, as the chairman, president and CEO of Ariel. Because of Ariel Corporation’s success and Karen’s deep-seated belief in the necessity to give back, or “pay it forward”, she has always given both time and money toward those organizations which help others help themselves or which give a leg up to those life has knocked out of the saddle. Putting The Ariel Foundation in place was a natural extension of a lifelong inclination and a hope to leave the world a little better than it was before she passed this way. It also ensures the continuation of Karen’s aspiration and vision for her hometown for generations to come.Read More