Celebrating Success with Kindness: Karen West
From the distinction of being the first female vice president of a major investment firm, to trekking into the woods to distribute blankets to the homeless, Rehoboth Beach resident Karen West has experienced wealth from both ends of the spectrum.
Karen is a true local, born in Laurel, Delaware and growing up in Sussex County. Her parents owned a grocery store, and young Karen’s chores included managing the books for the business. Her mother suggested that she explore an education in accounting, so she applied to and was accepted in the business program at Goldey-Beacom College in Newark, Delaware. Numbers are important, and we surely couldn’t live without them, but they don’t have much of a personality. Karen was accustomed to the small-town camaraderie with her parents’ customers and quickly became bored with the program. An astute advisor at the school recommended that she include investment studies in her curriculum, and she completed the program with renewed energy.
Karen landed a job keeping track of the books for Rollins Broadcasting Co. in Wilmington, but barely a year later found her niche as an account supervisor managing short-term debt for Sears Roebuck Acceptance Corp. In 1970 she accepted a position in mutual fund administration for Boston’s Wellington Management Company. Karen’s boss, Jack Bogle, was profiled in Robert Slater’s John Bogle and the Vanguard Experiment. An author in his own right, Bogle’s experiment was the founding of the first not-for-profit investment management company, a concept unheard of at the time. Karen West was fascinated with the idea, and followed Bogle into his groundbreaking Vanguard Group. She remained there for 29 years as the first female V.P., and Controller of Vanguard Funds; earning the Vanguard Award of Excellence in 1998.
In the mid ‘90s, Karen joined the board of directors for The United Way. She was also ordained as a Deacon in the United Church of Christ. All that altruism must have paid off, because shortly thereafter she had the good fortune to meet Melissa Clement. At that time, both Karen and Melissa had partners of their own, and the two couples remained good friends for almost ten years. In 1996, Karen bought her home in Rehoboth Beach. The place needed painting, and (wouldn’t you know it) Melissa is a professional house painter—obviously a match made in heaven.
Their first official relationship was purely business. Melissa cleverly underscored the building’s singular architectural design with the use of contrasting colors. The striking effect attracted the attention of Delaware Beach Life magazine, resulting in the August 2010 “Cottage Tour” featuring Karen’s home. By this time, she and Melissa had long since made the inevitable transition from friends to life partners. Though Melissa’s successful painting business is still centered in the Wilmington/ Pennsylvania area, both Karen and Scooter (her friendly Maine Coon) look forward to Melissa’s joining them in the Rehoboth Beach home that her talents helped to make famous.
Karen not only brings her business experience to the finance board of Epworth United Methodist Church, but her inclination for philanthropy prompted her takeover of the Church’s Food Sharing Pantry. She admits that she was surprised by the poverty that exists side-by-side with so much wealth and good fortune here in Rehoboth Beach. She was also instrumental in the creation of the Church’s “Blanket Ministry,” through which Epworth provides blankets, sleeping bags, and food to the homeless, many of whom populate the woods between the Church and Rehoboth’s upscale Holland Glade development. She smiles as she describes this pathway as “my reason for being.”
“Anyone who shows up for food gets food,” Karen says, and Epworth certainly puts its money where its mouth is. By funneling parishioners’ donations into their Caring Ministry, heating bills are paid and food is provided to those who need it. Generous supporters receive emails detailing the supplies the Church needs to continue helping those in need.
Karen likes to keep busy. In addition to her work on behalf of Epworth Church (and the people who benefit from their largess), she has served on Vanguard’s Delaware board of directors for the last six years, attending regular meetings to oversee the Fund’s real estate holdings and international investments.
Her beautiful home on the water is testament to her hard work and talents, and her unique life experience has taught her how fleeting good fortune can be. “I love it,” she told Delaware Beach Life. “I wake up every morning…and think how blessed I am to live here.” She celebrates her success by never missing a chance to be where she’s needed, and her day-to-day involvement in the charitable ministry of the Epworth Church has changed the course of many lives.
On the last line of a little handwritten fact sheet she gave me, Karen wrote, almost as an afterthought, “It is my passion.” The seamless blending of her stature in the financial world with her generosity toward those less fortunate certainly makes that little footnote come to life.
Bob Yesbek is a Rehoboth Beach resident. Email Bob Yesbek