Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski is a Professor in the Department of Technology and Society in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at Stony brook University.  Karen is also the Founder of Virtual Distance International (VDI) and the Virtual Distance Institute, organizations that specialize in helping companies maximize productivity and innovation among the virtual workforce.  After 18 years on Wall Street, Karen pursued a Ph.D. and discovered the new phenomenon of Virtual Distance, a measureable concept that predicts the success or failure of organizational outcomes.  Karen is internationally recognized as the world’s leading expert on virtual teams, leadership in the wired world and managing global organizations. She is the author of two books:  “Uniting the Virtual Workforce:  Transforming Leadership and Innovation in the Globally Integrated Enterprise” and “Leading the Virtual Workforce:  How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century”, showcasing executives from major corporations around the world.  Karen’s clients include large Fortune 500 companies, governments and non-profits.  Karen’s award-winning dissertation, “Virtual Distance:  A New Model for the Study of Virtual Work” has launched a new field of academic studies into this area and Karen is now affiliated with many other renown universities including Wharton, Babson College, the Stockholm School of Economics and more.  Karen is a highly sought-after public speaker, executive advisor and consultant on the topics of global leadership, innovation and distributed work.