Karen Schankin

Karen is responsible for leading IT Service Management (ITSM) at Flagstar Bank.  In this role, she is responsible for managing the IT Service Desk, IT Endpoint teams, and the IT Service Management process development team.  Prior this role, Karen was the Chief of Staff to the CIO at Flagstar Bank responsible for the Project Management Office, IT Financials, IT learning, Vendor Management, and overall communications within the IT department. 

 Prior to working at Flagstar, Karen worked at Walgreens in 2019 as an ITSM advisor and IT Operations Director.  She also spent 30 years at General Motors holding numerous leadership roles such as the Director of the Global IT Service Desk and Director of IT Applications managing the team responsible for providing the day to day 24/7 operational support for the Global Business Services, Human Resources, Public Relations, Communications, Legal, and Finance applications.  This included supporting daily activities for incident, change, release, problem management and business continuity certification and execution. 

Karen holds a Bachelor’s of Administration and Management Degree and a Master’s of Science in Information Management and Communication Degree from Walsh College.  She has served on several committees at GM including GM WOMEN and GM Women in IT.  She also was an advocate for the GM’s United Way campaign for GM IT.  She has served on two external boards including the Michigan Council of Women in Technology (MCWT) as a director and secretary and the St. Vincent and Sarah Fisher Center.  She has been a long time member of the MCWT organization and has volunteered for many events and committees and truly has a passion for bringing more women into the IT field.