Building economies, advancing nations: Karen Ogen’s Indigenous Business Leadership EMBA experience – SFU
February 02, 2026
For Karen Ogen, leadership has never been about titles—it has been about responsibility, learning, and leaving her community stronger than she found it. A member of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations and a graduate of the Indigenous Business Leadership Executive MBA (IBL EMBA) at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, Ogen has spent decades working at the intersection of community healing, economic development, and Indigenous self-determination.
Ogen’s journey is deeply rooted in family and community. She is a member of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation Bear Clan and the daughter of the late hereditary chief Sophie Ogen, whom she credits as a trailblazer for Indigenous women in leadership. When Ogen completed her MBA, she dedicated the degree to her mother’s legacy—one defined by courage, service, and commitment to the people.
