Jim Karl - Office of Professional Practice - Purdue University

Karl currently serves as interim president and CEO of the Purdue Alumni Association, where he oversees all engagement, communication, membership, marketing and sales, and data management activities for the association. 

After graduating from Purdue in 1981, Karl joined IBM at its Essex Junction, Vermont, facility and continued to work out of that location until his retirement in June 2011. During his 30-year career with IBM, he held numerous engineering and management positions throughout the microelectronics division’s development and manufacturing organizations. After retiring from IBM, Karl was principal consultant for Idea-Ore Consulting, providing consulting services for the US Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence communities related to secure development and manufacturing of semiconductor components.

Throughout his professional career, Karl maintained an active relationship with Purdue. For many years, he was IBM microelectronics’ technical recruiting lead at Purdue. He and a fellow alumnus started the Purdue Alumni Club of Vermont.

Karl was named one of Purdue's Outstanding Materials Engineers in 1998 and has served on the Materials Science Engineering Advisory Board.

Purdue experience

Completed as a five-session co-op with General Electric