Karen Thomas Fesmire

Karen Thomas Fesmire graduated from Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science in 1980 with a BS in business administration and a minor in English. Long active in alumni affairs, she became a member of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Directors beginning in 2000 and served as President from 2006-2008. Under her leadership the alumni board has refined the criteria and selection process for the University Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award, moved alumni clubs from staff-driven to volunteer-driven chapters developed programs to increase meaningful contact between students and alumni and reviewed and redesigned the selection and membership of the board. 

While at Vanderbilt, she was an active student leader, serving as panhellenic rush chairman, assistant rush chairman, and a member of the summer Honor Council. As a student, she was a VUceptor and served on the VUcept executive committee training leaders for the university’s student orientation program.

After graduation, Mrs. Fesmire worked for a time in the printing industry in middle Tennessee before moving to the Memphis, Tennessee, area where she has spent the last 24 years raising a family and contributing her time to a host of civic activities. Mrs. Fesmire is currently on the National Leadership Team of Kappa Delta Sorority serving as a Collegiate Membership Director and Legacy Resource Committee Chair. She has served as a special advisor to several chapters as well as a province president. She assisted in colonizing chapters at Union University, College of Charleston and University of Memphis. She remains an active member of the local alumnae chapter of Kappa Delta.

Much of Mrs. Fesmire’s local voluntarism has focused on schools and parenting. At three Memphis area schools – Hutchison School, Memphis University School and St. George’s Independent School – she has been a trained facilitator and program coordinator for “Parent to Parent,” a program that encourages parents to be the best parents and role models for their children. A former president of the Parent’s Association at Hutchison School, Mrs. Fesmire has served on a number of committees and task forces for all three schools.

Mrs. Fesmire chaired one of the major annual events for LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis; the Festival of Trees. For her contributions to the city, Memphis’s major daily newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, named her as a “Point of Light” volunteer. She is an ordained elder and deacon in the Presbyterian Church, PCUSA, and served as trustee. Additionally, she has served as program director and board member of Germantown Youth Athletic Association and as a member of Chickasaw Country Club swim team board.

Mrs. Fesmire is married to alumnus William M. Fesmire, M.D., who graduated from Vanderbilt in 1980 and is a partner with Pediatrics East, Inc. in Memphis. Generous contributors to the National Commodore Club, the Fesmires co-chaired the Class of 1980’s 20th reunion in 2000. They are the parents of Maggie (Vanderbilt /09) and son Witt, age 14.

June 2011

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