Karen Sock

Karen is President and CEO of Sock Enterprises, Inc., a full-service consulting firm. She provides companies and organizations with a variety of professional services including but not limited to: strategic and business planning, leadership and staff development, project management, and Diversity Equity and Inclusion workshops.

Ms. Sock developed and refined her skills as a casino, hotel/resort, and entertainment industry executive at Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., Grand Casinos Inc., and Caesars Entertainment, Inc. Karen excelled in a number of casino resort operating positions including Senior Vice President and General Manager, Grand Casino Gulfport (Now Harrah’s Gulf Coast) and Executive Vice President and General Manager at Grand Casino Tunica. In 1997 Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., appointed Sock to the position of General Manager at the Original Harrah’s Casino Tunica, MS. That appointment distinguished her as the nation’s first African American female to lead the daily operations of a full-service casino for a major gaming company.

Ms. Sock is well known for providing inspirational leadership to thousand of staffers over the years. She is especially proud to have mentored and sponsored many to achieve their professional and personal growth goals as senior executives in gaming and other professional fields. Karen is passionate about the education of our youth. In 2013 she co-founded and developed Pathways2Possibilities: P2P, on behalf of Jackson County Civic Action Committee and America’s Promise Alliance. P2P is a unique hands-on, interactive career exploration experience, designed to expose 8th graders and older Opportunity Youth ages 16-24 years old, to the many career options available to them. In just 7 years P2P has hosted over 95,000 students representing 49 of Mississippi’s 82 counties. P2P has also expanded into South Carolina and West Tennessee.

Karen believes in giving back to the communities where she lives and works. She co-chaired the Capital and Development Campaigns in 2011 to create Cafe CLIMB, a teaching cafe in Gulfport, Mississippi where Opportunity Youth 16 to 24 years of age are trained in the culinary arts. Sock is the creator and founder of the CEO Talent Show, a community fundraiser that benefitted the United Way of South Mississippi for 6 years.

Some of Ms. Sock’s current affiliations include The National Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at Tradition, Secretary-Treasurer, Board of Directors, East Central Harrison County Public Utility District, Board of Directors, Susan G Komen Memphis Mid-South Mississippi, VP Board of Directors. She also bakes and sells “Ms. Karen’s Gourmet Oatmeal Kookies.”

Karen is happily married for the past 34 years to Fred Sock, a structural and research engineer at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Rockville, Maryland. They are the proud parents of one adult daughter Kristan. Karen and Fred reside in Biloxi, Mississippi and enjoy a successful commuter marriage.