Ken Keen

Associate Professor in the Practice of Organization & Management; Associate Dean for Leadership; Lieutenant General, USA (Retired) | Emory University, Goizueta Business School

Atlanta, GA, UNITED STATES

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Biography

Lieutenant General (Ret) P. K. (Ken) Keen is a native of Hyden, Kentucky. LTG (Ret) Keen is currently the Associate Dean of Leadership Development and a faculty member in Organization and Management for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, he manages a school-wide leadership development program for the MBA programs, which includes teaching crisis leadership; developing high performing teams; implementing a Coaching Fellows Program; and coaching in the Advanced Leadership Academy.

LTG (Ret) Keen served 38 years in the Army with over 11 years working and living abroad in the Republic of Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Germany, Egypt, and Pakistan. Ken has extensive leadership experience of conventional and special operations units as well as the interagency environment. Ken commanded a SFOD-A team in Special Forces, a company and Battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division, Joint Task Force – Haiti, following the Jan 2010 earthquake, as well as serving on 3 U.S. Embassy Country Teams leading all military forces in Colombia, Haiti, and Pakistan during crisis periods. He participated in Operation JUST CAUSE in 1989 as the Assistant S3 of the 75th Ranger Regiment; commanded a Ranger Task Force during Operation DESERT STORM in 1990 as part of a Joint Special Operations Command while serving as the S3 of the 1st Ranger Battalion; was the Executive Officer and Commander of 1st Ranger Battalion; and was the 11th Colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment from 1999 to 2001.

LTG (Ret) Keen also serves on several non-profit Boards in support of military veterans and international humanitarian organizations; a member of the Council of Foreign Relations; on the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Army War College; and on the Board of Visitors for the Western Hemisphere of Security Cooperation. LTG (Ret) Keen also serves as the President of PKKEEN Consulting, LLC, and in this role he has been an Executive Coach for over 100 senior military and business executives over the last 3 years. In 2016, LTG (Ret) Keen was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame and the National Reserve Officer Training Corps Hall of Fame.

Education (2)

University of Florida: MA, Latin American Studies 1986

Eastern Kentucky University: BS, Math 1974

Areas of Expertise (4)

Leadership

Special Forces

Leader Development

Crisis Relief

Publications (2)

Relationships matter: humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Haiti

Joint Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Challenges in the Geographic Combatant Commands

2010 The following collection of articles focus on U.S. joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational (JIIM) activities, challenges, issues, and operations in the six U.S. geographic combatant commands (GCCs). Today, stability operations in Afghanistan and Iraq rightfully receive the lion’s share of attention, priority, and media coverage. There are, however, many other challenges, potential dangers, and future threats in the other five GCCs that merit attention and continuous observation and evaluation. The GCCs operate in challenging and complex environments, tackling a vast array of JIIM challenges and issues each day. The intent of the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) is to illustrate some of the current challenges in this newsletter and highlight operations at the strategic or theater levels. [...]

Foreign Disaster Response: Joint Task Force-Haiti Observations

Army Combined Arms Center Fort Leavenworth KS Military Review

2010 The devastation in Haiti caused by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 January 2010 prompted the longest and largest U.S. military effort in a foreign disaster relief operation. The earthquake destroyed vast areas of Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital, as well as a number of communities to the west of the capital, killing an estimated 230,000 persons and leaving thousands trapped in the wreckage and over two million without shelter. At the peak of Operation Unified Response, 1 February 2010, Joint Task Force-Haiti (JTF-H) consisted of over 22,000 service members, 58 aircraft, and 23 ships. With the stand-down of JTF-H on 1 June, Operation Unified Response lasted nearly five months. This article contains our initial observations and recommendations to after action reviews and lessons that our military and interagency community should learn from as we prepare for the next foreign disaster.

Research Spotlight

Comparing relief in Haiti, Puerto Rico

2017-09-29

Relief effort in Houston a complicated one

2017-08-28

#Rio2016 – A Reason to Worry?

2016-07-18

In the News (7)

Excessive Regulation on NGOs Amid Crises Cost Lives | Opinion

Newsweek online

2023-06-02

The end of the COVID-19 National Emergency Declaration on May 11 marked a potent milestone in the battle against that crippling pandemic. At this important moment we should all reflect on the vital lessons learned, so that we'll be prepared for the next global crisis. There are changes desperately needed if we are to mitigate disasters more effectively in future.

Tropical Storm Grace batters Haiti days after deadly quake: 'Countless Haitian families have lost everything'

USA Today online

2021-08-17

"It was a little surreal when I heard there was another earthquake," Keen told USA TODAY. "But I remember experts saying back then that it would happen again, that it was on a fault line." Ken Keen is quoted in this article for USA Today.

The wicked challenges of search-and-rescue at disaster sites such as Champlain Towers

The Washington Post online

2021-06-29

One of those buildings was the Hotel Montana a couple of blocks away. Reinforcing the cruel chance involved, one of the U.S. service members on his team was killed inside, while two others “rode it down” as the building collapsed and survived, Keen said. Ken Keen is quoted in this article for The Washington Post.

Finding peace in post-disaster Haiti

Salon online

2013-05-26

"As an AP reporter covering the earthquake, I anticipated violent mayhem. What I discovered was a country united.” Ken Keen is featured in this article for Salon.