Karen Gowland, ’81, ’84, holds degrees in accounting and law from the University of Idaho. She has spent her law career working in Idaho’s forest products industry and is currently the senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Boise, Inc.
“The University of Idaho’s residential campus provided a nurturing, but animated, environment to learn and grow,” she said. “The outstanding, caring faculty, the richness of campus life, and the warmth of the tight-knit community provided me with uninhibited happiness and fun and an unmatched access to excellence. Simply put, the University of Idaho opened doors I could never have imagined and delivered a network of friends and professional colleagues that will last a lifetime.”
Gowland’s professors helped her prepare during law school for a summer internship with Boise Cascade Corporation, which blossomed into a nearly 30-year career.
After serving as counsel and associate general counsel, she became vice president, associate general counsel and corporate secretary for Boise Cascade in 1998. She joined Boise, Inc., in 2008.
Gowland chairs the Professional Conduct Board for the Idaho State Bar Association and is a past chair of the Law Advisory Council for the University of Idaho College of Law. She has organized meetings for women in her company to share ideas and work together, and was honored as a Woman of Today and Tomorrow by the Silver Sage Girl Scout Council.
She continues to give back to her university as a member of the University of Idaho Foundation, Inc. board of directors.
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