Karen Knight
Karen Knight
Owner
Blue Wolf Associates
As an entrepreneur of two companies, www.EssentialConcierge.com and Blue Wolf Associates
, Karen believes service to others is one of the highest callings we can have. As the owner of Blue Wolf Associates, Karen works with a variety of clients to identify marketing gaps and build solutions for small and medium business owners with a primary focus on gaming, travel, destination management and international vacation ownership industries. Karen develops and manages strategic plans, advertising and social media campaigns, and manages sales, graphic design, print, web design, search engine optimization, public relations, special events, symposiums and trade shows for her customers.
Karen is a founding member of Women in the Industry (WIN) www.womenintheindustry.org, non-profit organization, now two years old. Karen devotes her volunteer time in this organization to creating education and professional networking campaigns which support in vacation ownership and vacation industries. Additionally WIN supports philanthropic campaigns to support two additional non profits (Gal-to Gal) which provides family vacations for women in stage 4 breast cancer, as well as (Girls Inc.) which supports “collegeship” funds and travel for young women who may not otherwise be exposed to career and education opportunities in the leisure and vacation ownership industries.
Prior to launching Blue Wolf Associates, Karen first became directly involved with the vacation ownership industry during her six year tenure as marketing director for CSA Travel Protection. During this time she developed successful marketing campaigns for the company as it pioneered the first offerings of timeshare and rental property management travel insurance for the industry. Working with the company through the challenges of 9/11, the pioneering of this product line helped to increase revenues to $14,000,000 during her tenure, making CSA Travel Protection the third largest travel insurance company in the U.S.
After leaving CSA Travel Protection, Karen worked outside of tourism as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Quality Built, the nations leading quality assurance company in the construction industry. During Karen’s tenure with Quality Built, her team increased revenues from $24,000,000 to $52,000,000.
Karen’s prior experience also includes her tenure as Director of Marketing for San Francisco Recreation and Park Department where she created several destination management programs for the city and produced the first San Francisco County Fair. Leaving Northern California to become the Grand Opening Director of Legoland California, Karen was responsible to develop programs which totaled two-thirds of all Park attendance including AAA, annual pass, military, education, youth, birthday parties and human resource/corporate discount programs. She generated $1,000,000 in ticket sales two months ahead of schedule, prior to the Park opening.
Additionally, Karen has managed university conference programs for Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and Santa Clara Universities and marketed and managed several boutique hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Karen previously served as both chair and member of Cal Poly’s Advisory Council. She holds a degree in Recreation Administration with a concentration in leisure studies, supported by master’s level coursework in Business Administration. Ms. Knight also has a certification from the University of Northern Illinois in Trade Show Marketing, currently held by less than 1% of all industry professionals.