Meet Karen Krause-Bencal, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Defense & Electronics
A powerhouse mentor to Activate Fellows, she’s also helped us tap into Boston’s vibrant startup ecosystem at the intersection of defense, fedtech, and energy innovation.
Karen Krause-Bencal (known around here as KK) joined Activate in late 2020 as a partnerships manager. Having launched Activate Boston, we had been searching for someone who knew Boston’s innovation ecosystem and had deep ties with R&D and tech transition stakeholders in the defense and electronics industries.
Karen Krause-Bencal
It’s clear we found the perfect person for that role. Krause-Bencal quickly expanded Activate’s network of partners, customers, mentors, and investors, making strategic connections for Activate Fellows, whether they are developing new energy systems or pioneering innovations in electronics, sensing, advanced manufacturing.
“KK’s knowledge, connections, and engagement have been pivotal,” says Cohort 2020 fellow Grayson Zulauf, whose startup Resonant Link is bringing wireless charging to electric fleets. “She transformed our approach to generating business and accessing government funding, which advanced our progress toward electrifying fleets within the Department of Defense and opened new market opportunities.”
Read on to learn how Krause-Bencal went from an early career advancing new technologies in environmental engineering fields to starting her own firms and leading innovation initiatives at Raytheon and Battelle Memorial Institute—and what she learned about the important role that government plays in advancing the development and adoption of new technologies. You’ll also learn about her great advocacy of women in STEM and national security.
Q: You have a really interesting backstory. Walk us through your career trajectory.
I earned a B.S. from Cornell’s Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, taking engineering, science, math, business, and computing courses, all with a vision to make a large-scale impact. My senior thesis received funding through an NSF grant, and I led a student team researching optimal designs of large-scale municipal composting facilities. This helped me land a job as an environmental scientist with CDM Smith, a leading engineering firm. I managed new technology pilot programs across the company, from solid waste and hazardous material recycling to air quality, public health, water, and wastewater systems.
After CDM Smith, I earned my MBA in entrepreneurship at Babson College. I applied for Babson’s Hatchery Program for new student businesses and launched a workplace safety product company. I raised seed money through grants and business competitions, licensed and filed patents, built technology prototypes, and grew a customer base. Then, 9-11 happened, and everything shut down. I mean everything. I learned that my business concept, though valuable, was limited by changing market conditions.
After some painstaking introspection and guidance from senior business mentors, I pivoted to managing homeland security pilot projects at Boston’s airport, port, bus and subway facilities. I founded a DOT-certified woman-owned professional engineering services firm and, within five short years, had contracts with most of the transportation, city, and public safety agencies in Boston. I grew my firm to six people, managed over $75M in government-funded programs, and expanded into renewable energy, power, fleet electrification, emissions reduction, and sustainable materials.
Q: What was that like?
It was awesome. I worked alongside engineering and operations teams passionate about adopting new security, safety, and sustainability solutions for public transportation. At this juncture, I learned the important role the federal government plays in fostering new technology development and adoption—and how challenging this could be.
“I realized my true calling. I sold my business and took a senior program manager position with a corporate innovation group at Raytheon.”
During this period, I met many organizations trying to commercialize innovations developed in federal labs or within defense contractors, but their offerings often did not have product/market fit with commercial transportation requirements. That’s when I realized my true calling. I sold my business and took a senior program manager position with a corporate innovation group at Raytheon led by Mary Petryszyn, who is now president of Northrop Grumman Defense Systems. Mary’s leadership was incredible, and she directly mentored me in furthering my career in national security. In my role at Raytheon, I led initiatives focused on converting defense technologies into commercial solutions for the transportation sector. I collaborated with brilliant R&D teams, reworking products and ultimately securing airport and port customers.
Krause-Bencal (third from right) poses with other members of the Women in Defense Greater Boston chapter and U.S. Representative Nicola Tsongas, center, in 2018.
After Raytheon, I took a contract position as director of national security innovation programs with Battelle Memorial Institute, one of the largest non-profit research organizations in the world. I helped stand up a corporate innovation office in Boston at the Cambridge Innovation Center. Over five years we experimented with spinning in innovations from universities, startups, and federal labs, as well as spinning out corporate IP by forming new ventures and raising private capital funds. During my time with Battelle, I fell in love with how vibrant Boston’s early-stage innovation ecosystem is and gained a keen understanding of the significant R&D investments that the defense, government, and industrial sectors make in renewables, sensors, materials, advanced manufacturing, autonomy, and microelectronics.
“During my time with Battelle, I fell in love with how vibrant Boston’s early-stage innovation ecosystem is...”
When I first heard that Activate offered a two-year entrepreneurial fellowship for early-stage deep-tech science entrepreneurs focused on national challenges like trusted microelectronics and climate change, I was intrigued. When I learned DARPA and MIT Lincoln Laboratory were Activate partners, I just had to get involved.
Q: You do a lot of advocacy work for women. Tell us about that.
After joining Raytheon, I became active in the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA) to learn about the defense industry. I later co-founded the Women in Defense Greater Boston Chapter (WID-GBC), an affiliate of NDIA, to support the professional development of women serving in national security roles. Today, WID-GBC is known as the most professionally diverse, rapidly growing chapter in the country. We partner with universities to produce STEM mentoring events, raise money for academic scholarships and provide professional development and networking opportunities for women serving in a wide range of national security roles. We co-created with UMass Dartmouth WID-GBC scholarship for women engineering students and recently started our own scholarship program. On October 26, we are planning to award nearly $15,000 in scholarships at the WID-GBC/UMass Dartmouth Empowering Women in STEM event.
I am just thrilled our work with STEM women is starting to get recognized and we are making an impact on women at all stages in their careers.
Q: You have worked on a host of innovation initiatives. In your opinion, what makes the Activate Fellowship unique?
Activate’s entrepreneurial research fellowship is unique in two ways. First, it provides a forum for private capital, philanthropy, government, industry, and defense innovation communities to engage with fellows and their startups. This is a powerful value proposition for our nation, as it lowers new venture risk and builds a stronger, dual-use business case for investment earlier in the process. And that increases the probability of technology transitions. Second, the fellow-first approach attracts aspiring women entrepreneurs, providing additional runway and support for successfully launching their ventures. For deep tech, it’s about the long game.