About Transform Governance

Bringing Boards Back Into Alignment

Based in Orlando, Florida, Transform Governance serves a wide range of nonprofit, higher education, healthcare, and community organizations. Taking a mission-centric approach to everything we do, learning the client's mission is our first priority in the assessment process.

Having served a range of small to large nonprofit boards, public higher education governing boards, and community foundation boards, Principal Consultant Karen Monteleone can provide unique insights and expertise in skillfully guiding board and executive leadership through a governance assessment.

Meet Karen Monteleone

Karen is an accomplished board and community relations executive with extensive experience building relationships that ensure organizations excel in their missions, especially during times of significant change. For nearly two decades, Karen has worked with a diverse range of community leaders, C-suite executives, and other influential volunteers to help advance the goals of the institutions and organizations they serve. 

Before starting Transform Governance LLC, Karen served as Assistant Vice President for Board Relations at the University of Central Florida, where she managed the university’s 13-member Board of Trustees responsible for policy decisions, performance, strategic planning, and fiscal management for one of the nation’s largest universities. Karen oversaw all board operations and worked directly with each member on the board’s activities, engagement, and philanthropy, drawing from her volunteer leadership with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) and proven experience in community and corporate relations and leadership and development programs. 

Karen served as the primary staff liaison to the UCF board during its national presidential search in 2020, innovating new ways to virtually introduce candidates to the campus community in the early months of the pandemic. She also facilitated the board's involvement in and adoption of a new five-year university-wide strategic plan to help UCF become a top 25 public research university. 

An empathetic leader and a builder by nature, Karen has improved transparency and communication essential for effective and informed decision-making in every role she has had. Before working with the UCF Board of Trustees, Karen served as the director and primary relationship manager for the university’s Foundation Board of Directors, where she provided strategic counsel to the Foundation CEO, executive leadership team, and board leadership and increased board engagement and philanthropy during the university’s $531-million IGNITE campaign.