Karleen leads the development of BARHII's innovation culture and social enterprises. The social enterprises produce the revenue that funds our lobbying efforts, including BlackHAT.

Dedicated to creating an equitable community, Karleen Porcena is an authentic leader who is driven to inclusive economic improvement. With over 15 years of comprehensive community development experience Karleen aims to create innovative strategies and partnerships to move the dial on the racial wealth gap.

As the daughter of Haitian immigrants, Karleen uses her unique lived experience coupled with professional skills to create solutions to eliminate economic disparities. In her current role as Managing Director
Her career began with 10 years of direct services at the front lines of anti-poverty work at Action for Boston Community Development. This role has grounded Karleen in understanding program development and implementation, organizing with diverse populations as well administration of city and state contracts.

Karleen is passionate about building bridges between people, communities, and networks with intentions to have an equal playing field for all. She brings to her work a wide variety of relationships with community organizations, business, and resident leaders, elected officials, as well as faith-based institutions.
Karleen received her MBA at Babson College in Wellesley, Ma and holds a double bachelor’s degree in Comparative Politics and Spanish from Clark University in Worcester, MA.

Prior to joining BARHII, she served as VP Relationship Manager at Berkshire Bank, responsible for cultivating new banking opportunities and engaging underbanked populations. Karleen used her passion and love for community development work to provide the highest customer experience to all clients despite income level. In this role she created a community dialogue series bringing timely and informative information to communities typically ignored by the banking industry and administered PPP applications for over 40 businesses throughout Massachusetts.

Her career began with 10 years of direct services at the front lines of anti-poverty work at Action for Boston Community Development. This role has grounded Karleen in understanding program development and implementation, organizing with diverse populations as well administration of city and state contracts.

Karleen is passionate about building bridges between people, communities, and networks with intentions to have an equal playing field for all. She brings to her work a wide variety of relationships with community organizations, business, and resident leaders, elected officials, as well as faith-based institutions.
Karleen received her MBA at Babson College in Wellesley, Ma and holds a double bachelor’s degree in Comparative Politics and Spanish from Clark University in Worcester, MA.