Founder • Product Technologist • Problem Solver • Speaker • Citizen
Creating practical solutions at the intersection of technology, business, policy, and human experience.
Karen Schoellkopf is the Founder of Leap Fund. She led Leap Fund as CEO for 7 years, and transitioned to Leap Fund’s Advisory in late 2024. She is a product strategist and end-to-end product lead. She’s worked on projects for Samsung, Target, Verizon, Meetup, Spotify, the American Medical Association, and more, and led Product at VoteRunLead (which trains women to run for office). She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and her BA from Binghamton University. She is a Fellow at Sterling Network, whose mission is to enhance economic mobility across NYC.
She has spoken about benefits cliffs and fintech solutions to policy failures at: Ending Hunger in America: A Conversation about Benefit Cliffs, House Committee on Rules (2021); National FSS Conference by Compass Working Capital (2022); Benefits21 Leadership Forum, The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (2022); Benefits Cliffs, ECS Forum on Justice and Opportunity (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022); Benefits Cliffs w/ a User Centered Lens, CirclesUSA National Conference (2021, 2023); Summit on the Economics and Policies of Cliffs in the Social Safety Net and Economic Mobility, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (2019); Fintech Fixes to Policy Problems, NYS CDFI Conference (2019); and Unlocking Underserved Markets panel, Ideas42 Behavioral Summit (2018).
She has also created initiatives like Hire More Women In Tech and realnames.online (inactive) to challenge bias and unsafe defaults in tech.