June 10, 2025

Karen R. Jenkins pivoted away. from the mortgage business amid housing market collapse of 2007-8. In 2020, as Covid-19 turned Dilbertville dwellers into work-at-homers, Jenkins began workshops on how to balance work life and family life under the same roof.

The R. might as well stand for resourceful.

In a presentation this morning at the Forum, Jenkins, founder, president and CEO of KRJ Consulting, weaved together her faith journey and her professional journey toward the creation of a small but “nimble” consultancy that helps businesses and other organizations reach their goals. The weaving appears to be no accident, but viewers of the video below will judge that for themselves.

Among the consultants at this Columbia-based firm are two longtime Forum regulars and Charlotte leaders: Both Al Austin and David Howard served terms on Charlotte City Council. Brenda F. Anderson, a KRJ consultant who served First Union/Wachovia in Charlotte in the 1990s, is current CEO of a consulting group in Rowlett, Texas.

Slides from a presentation file shown before the Forum opened are below, or may be downloaded as a PDF file here.