Karen Mermel, PMP

Karen Mermel, PMP is Member of the National Space Society Board of Directors; Division Coordinator of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Director of Application Development at Farm Journal Media; Product Manager, Project Manager, and QA Manager at Consultant Technologies; Webmaster at Park-Wise Animal Hospital; and Webmaster at The Buddy Foundation.
 
Karen is a professional project/program manager with a PMP certification. She has worked in many industries within the Information Technology field. She began her MBA at Lake Forest School of Management. She has retired but never one to sit around; she is producing web sites for the American Academy of Pediatrics and also works on the NSS web site with a view to making it much more informative and user friendly.
 
She has been a member of NSS for years and an early L5 member. Karen has a passion for space and has worked in many roles for NSS including VP of Public Affairs; member, Board of Directors; Chair, Strategic Planning; and, one of her favorite jobs was as Liaison to the NSS Board of Governors.
 
Karen works on many committees for NSS including Public Relations, Fundraising, Chapters, Membership, Strategic Planning, and Operations. She was a president of the Northern Illinois Space Advocacy chapter of NSS. She has represented NSS on NPR radio in Chicago several times.
 
She began her love for the idea of living on other planets from her father who took her out to see the stars when she was about 7 years old. Then she decided that she wanted to be an astronomer. She was reading early science fiction but it wasn’t until the late 70s that she became an L5 member after seeing an ad in Analog magazine. After that point, she hasn’t stopped educating people about NSS and why it will help advance the day when humans will live and work in space.
 
Along with her many cats and volunteering for animal shelters, Karen enjoys swimming and volleyball.
 
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