Author

Karen Lee
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Senior Director Internal Communications, SAS

Karen Lee joined SAS in 1984 as a technical marketing representative. In the past 28 years, Karen has successfully merged her technical savvy with her communications know-how to foster a sense of trust and engagement among SAS’ 13,000 global employees. In her current role as Senior Director of Internal Communications, Karen has embraced social media to find new ways to connect employees with one another and with company leadership. She has done this by challenging SAS executives to communicate with employees via individual blogs and live, virtual “chats.” In 2011, her team spearheaded the effort to create an internal social media network known as the Hub, which has created virtual communities for best practice sharing, idea generation and work/life balance. Within two weeks of its launch, the site had more than 3,000 registrants and continues to grow. Karen modeled her team’s structure around a 24/7 news cycle, covering company events with real-time updates on the global intranet site. Gone are the days of “holding the news” until the next day’s publication. SAS employees hear news as it happens. Even with a wired employee base, however, traditional communication channels are not overlooked. Karen established regular “coffee with the CEO” sessions several years ago in which front-line employees are able to interact with and hear about the direction of the company from its CEO in an informal setting. Before being named Senior Director of Internal Communications, Karen was Director of Communications Support for SAS' Research & Development Division. In this role, she found innovative ways to communicate with a traditionally introverted employee population. Using a variety of communications vehicles, such as podcasts and employee expos, she improved information sharing among customers, management and developers. Before becoming a SAS employee, Karen was a SAS customer, using the software for capacity planning in her job at Official Airline Guides. Karen has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Eastern Illinois University. Originally from Westchester, Ill., Karen currently lives in Holly Springs, N.C. Outside of SAS, she enjoys spending time with her family, enjoying the outdoors biking, running and traveling to find new adventures.

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Communications from the final frontier

When I was a kid learning about the solar system and building those models out of hastily-painted styrofoam balls of varying sizes, Pluto was a planet. A full-fledged, legitimate planet just like the other eight. But In August of 2006, just 7 months after NASA launched the New Horizons Mission

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Cleared for takeoff

The winds are calm, temperatures mild, and there’s the added bonus of a beautiful North Carolina sunset as we’re cleared for takeoff. Most moms are a little nervous when their sons start to drive, but I had one who had even loftier goals and begged to learn to fly. As

Data Management
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We’ve come a long way, baby!

How Internal Communications got into the video business. Everybody loves video. Well, maybe not everybody, but judging by the popularity of YouTube and the ubiquity of Web videos in general, I’d have to conclude that a mighty large chunk of the population loves – or at least likes – it.

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Let’s get ‘To the Point’ of internal communications

When you think of internal communications in a large- or medium-sized company, what comes to mind? Perhaps an Internal Communications department that delivers corporate-level news, announcements and features to employees, helps with executive communications, publishes content on the intranet, etc.? While that’s often true, it’s only part of the story.

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What’s ‘app-ening’ at the Super Bowl?

It’s Super Bowl week and the players, coaches, media and fans are converging on New York City and northern New Jersey for a week of practices, interviews and events - all leading up to the big game. I, too, am making preparations for Super Bowl XLVIII, even though I’m not traveling

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SAS intranet scratches seven-year itch

Regular visitors to this blog may recall reading about SAS’ intranet, the SAS Wide Web. It’s the internal gateway to practically everything at SAS – from internal operations systems and departmental sites to product news and benefits information. And of course, it’s our primary internal communications media outlet. In September,

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