Clarkson University alumna Karel Czanderna ’77 of Dubuque, Iowa, has been reelected to Clarkson’s Board of Trustees. She will serve as a member of the Audit Committee.
She previously served as a Clarkson trustee from 2002-2012 and 2014-2016, including terms as vice-chair and interim board chair. She served on Clarkson’s Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering Advisory Council and has been recognized with the University’s highest alumni honor, the Golden Knight Award.
Czanderna, a 1977 graduate of Clarkson, resided in Potsdam with her parents, Alvin W. and Lucile D. Czanderna, from 1964 to 1977 and is a graduate of Potsdam High School. Her father was a Clarkson physics professor from 1964-1978.
She serves on the board of directors of BlueLinx Holdings, a publicly traded building products distributor, and privately-held Balcan Innovations.
During her executive career, Czanderna was the CEO and a board member of Flexsteel Industries Inc., where she accelerated growth while modernizing the top-six U.S. furniture manufacturer for residential and commercial markets.
Prior to that, she was president of Owens Corning Building Materials, where she led global businesses to double profitability, and vice president of Whirlpool’s KitchenAid and Jenn-Air appliance businesses, where she executed the largest simultaneous all-kitchen-products launch in history and was instrumental in the successful integration of Maytag. She also served as vice president and general manager of Eastman Kodak after beginning her career there as a research scientist.
Czanderna has been profiled in the Diversity Journal among “Women Worth Watching,” as a “2020 Director to Watch” by Directors and Boards, and was named among “20 People to Watch in 2018” by Furniture Today. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award (MS&E) from Cornell University and was named to the President’s Council of Cornell Women.
She serves on Cornell University’s Materials Science & Engineering Advisory Board and contributes to WithIt, a leadership development network for professional women in the home furnishings industry. She has also participated in many not-for-profit industry and community boards.
Czanderna received her bachelor of science degree in physics from Clarkson and her master of science and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Cornell University.
As a native New Yorker, Czanderna is an Adirondack 46er, having climbed all of the high peaks in the Adirondack Park. She resides with her husband, Dan Shirkey ’80 (MS), in Dubuque, Iowa.
https://www.clarkson.edu/news/clarkson-university-alumna-karel-czanderna-77-reelected-board-trustees