In today’s episode, Mindy Tucker has the opportunity to speak with fellow Theta Kappa sister from Southern Methodist University, Karen Lynch Parkhill—leader in business and finance and one of Tri Delta’s 2025 Women of Achievement. As the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of HP Inc., Karen is a powerful force in the corporate world. We’ll hear about her journey from finding her path in finance to overcoming challenges as a woman in leadership. She shares valuable insights and down-to-earth advice on resilience, confidence, and what it means to lead with both head and heart.
Hear how being “cross-cut” during recruitment as a freshman gave Karen one of her first lessons in resilience—one that shaped her journey of grit and determination as she went on to realize her dream and become a Tri Delta as a sophomore. Since then, she’s carried those traits throughout her career, navigating the challenges of being the only woman in the room, learning confidence and embracing her power in a male-dominated field.
In this conversation, we’ll hear why Karen believes in being surrounded with supportive friends who keep her grounded while pushing her toward success. She shares her philosophy on authenticity, choosing organizations that allow her to be herself, and offers valuable advice for anyone whether in business, government or service. Learn why she got to chills when learning about being named a 2025 Woman of Achievement, about the causes she’s passionate about and what’s next for her as she leads HP today and beyond. Congrats again, Karen!
[Karen Lynch Parkhill Transcript]
This transcript was created using automated technologies and may contain errors.
Hello Tri Deltas and welcome to the Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. I'm Mindy Tucker
and I serve as Tri Delta’s CEO. I have the privilege of sharing so many stories of
our amazing members and offering you an insider's perspective and a chance to really
get to know them here on the podcast. Each year, Tri Delta recognizes a few women
who are extraordinary and really exemplify Tri Delta's values. Women who are paving the
way for the next generation of women. These are our women of achievement, and today
I am thrilled to be able to introduce you to one of our 2025 women of achievement,
fellow SMU Mustang from the same chapter as me, our Theta Kappa chapter at SMU,
Karen Parkhill. Let me tell you a little bit about her before I introduce her in.
She is the Executive Vice President and the CFO of HP, Inc. She oversees the
company's global finance organization in all aspects of financial operations. She has
about 30 years of experience across healthcare and financial services. She's held
roles at really prestigious organizations, including being the CFO of Medtronic and
Comerica Incorporated, Busy Woman. Over the year, she's also been recognized as one
of the 25 most powerful women in banking, top 25 leaders in medical devices, and
even CFO of the year in 2021 by the Minneapolis -St. Paul Business Journal. She
serves on several boards, including American Express, and has been recognized as one
of the top women leaders in banking and healthcare technology. She has a BBA,
Business Administration, and Mathematics, wow, from Southern Methodist University, and
an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Karen, we have so
much to learn from you, and I'm so excited to welcome you to the podcast today.
Thanks for being with us. Oh, thank you, Mindy. I'm so excited to be here and so
honored, actually, so thank you. Well, I want to start with your journey into
college and how you ended up at SMU and then subsequently chose to join Tri Delta.
- Yeah, thank you. So I, you know, I had an idyllic upbringing in central Illinois,
but I wanted to stretch my wings and go a little bit further from home. And so
that's why I ended up at SMU. Plus the show Dallas was really hot on TV at the
time. And SMU had won the championship football game the year before, but,
you know, I'm thrilled that I picked SMU. It was an amazing four years and lifelong
friendships from there. But I'd say that most of my lifelong friendships really came
from Tri Delta and really excited that, you know,
that I was able to be a part of that amazing sorority. I went to rush my freshman
year and I honestly was cross -cut freshman year, but I didn't give up because I
really wanted to be a Tri Delt and I pledged sophomore year. Tri Delt was always my
first choice. At SMU, it was a house full of nice, fun, well -rounded and high
-achieving young women and I just wanted to be a part of that sisterhood. I love
that. You know, I have a friend with a similar story. One of my dearest Tri Delta
friends was Crosscut in her freshman year and came back and joined Tri Delta as a
sophomore and ended up having a fabulous experience. So I love that you share that
because we don't all come into this in normal ways and sort of the natural path.
So it's good to hear that you were still able to have a great experience even with
maybe a setback in your first year at college. Do you have any standout moments as
a collegiate member that maybe helped form the foundation of your career today? Was
business and finance always something you were interested in? Yeah, now I would say
honest standout moment absolutely and to be honest it was when I was crosscut. You
know I was devastated but I decided to hold my head high and try again and I
would say it was the first major life appointment that I had but it instilled in
me resilience, strength, fortitude, all of honestly which have been foundational for
my career. So there have been many more setbacks and hurdles that are you know much
different than that one but throughout my career and each time I face those setbacks
I regroup, I double down and I ultimately work to prove that setback wrong.
I love that you're right you know life is full of challenges and hurdles and
setbacks and you only get the strength to go through them by going through them.
You have to sort of live them to grow. They're a gift in certain ways.
Yeah they are. So were you always interested in business and finance? You So oddly
enough, I started SMU in pre -med. My dad was a doctor. I was going to follow in
his footsteps. It was really what I knew.
But I'd say despite the fact that medicine is an amazing and admirable career,
when I was being totally honest with myself, I had to admit that I didn't love
being around blood or sick people. And so I had an an academic advisor at SMU who
I admitted this to, and he started talking to me about where,
you know, what other interests I had. And I love math and I love numbers. And that
advisor helped steer me to further explore the possibility of a degree in math and
a degree in finance for me. And that's what started it. - Okay. Being honest with
yourself about what you wanted to do.
- Do you have any lessons learned from your Tri Delta experience that you've carried
into your career, your approach to business? - Oh, for sure, for sure. I'd say,
first and foremost, lean on your sisters. I often give advice to others on self
-confidence as I do believe it's one of the most important ingredients to success.
And I would say, especially early in my career, I struggled with doubt, which is
obviously the opposite of self -confidence. And so I now share with other women how
important confidence is and how when you feel it slipping is actually when you need
it the most. And there's no better antidote to get it back into you than to spend
time with your cherished girlfriends and have them pump it back into you. And so,
you know, I'd say lean on your sisters, lean on your girlfriends, you know,
especially when you feel your self -confidence slipping. You know, that's so funny.
One of the threads I will point out from almost every interview I do on the
podcast is I didn't believe I could, but my sister signed me up or my, you know,
my Tri Delta sister encouraged me to do this or they saw something in me or they
nominated me. And it's so true. It's such a common thread that that is so important
to us. That's what we do for each other. That's part of our sisterhood is
encouraging and giving the confidence when it's not there. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I love that. So let's talk a little bit about your career journey. You've had
such an impressive path. You started an investment banking at JP Morgan. Correct.
Okay. And then tell me how you how you sort of made the transition, what do you
think the keys have been for you growing and succeeding sort of into different
positions and into different roles? - Yeah, I would say some of the keys to success
are really staying true to myself and working for companies that enabled me to be
who I am. You know, when I started my career back in the late 80s, I was given a
coffee mug that was keys to a successful business woman. And there were three things
on that coffee mug. Dress like a woman, act like a man and work like a dog. And
I'd say they got two out of the three right. Dress like a woman and work like a
dog, but I never acted like a man and I never will. And, you know, I'd say being
true to yourself and who you are is really important. And, you know, joining
organizations that enable you to be true to yourself. I would say investment banking,
where I spent the first 20 years of my career, is not an easy path,
but ensuring that you're at an organization and I chose to join JP Morgan, where I
didn't have to act like a man. And I could still be successful with who I am.
And I I think that's super important. Another key to success is always grit and
resilience during tough times. We all have them and never giving up is super
important, I think. >> Yeah. I'm glad you called that out. I think so many times
we see people in leadership positions, especially if you're a woman, you're seeing a
man in a leadership position and you think you have to step in and be that rather
than stepping in and just being yourself. So I think that's great advice. What
challenges have you hit along the way?
You know I'm often in my career have been the only woman in the room and you know
I'd say so the biggest challenge I had in that was lacking the confidence to really
be powerful and and speak up and speak my mind. And I had to gain that and learn
that over time. And I think that just being a woman is super powerful.
And when we do speak, it's often with great thought and a lot of substance
underneath. And so I think in rooms where you might find yourself being the only
woman in the room to, you know, to speak with the authority that we should have
because we have an important voice that needs to be heard. And I just think having
that confidence is so important. - Yeah. Is there a moment that you would point to
where you had, you face something or you made some decision that really shaped you
into who you are today as a leader?
You know, I would say there are many, many moments, but probably not one defining
moment.
But I would say something that shaped, you know, me and who I am today is,
you know, probably because I didn't like hard -nosed tough bosses that didn't seem to
have a heart. I live and lead by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt to handle yourself,
use your head, and to handle others, use your heart. And so, you know, I definitely
lead with my head and my heart. I love that. That's great advice for people. When
you are faced with tough decisions, you know, I think, and when you get to an
executive level position, all the easy decisions are made by someone else. I always
used to joke to joke about that in politics, like when it got to the level of the
president, like he only got the hardest and worst decisions to make. And I feel
like it's the same as, I'm not in the CEO role, all the easy stuff gets done by
somebody else. They bring you the really, really tough decisions. What do you, what
lessons do you have there? What advice do you have there when, when you're, you
know, faced with a tough decision, what comes into, what comes into view for you?
What are the factors you look at, how do you deal with tough decisions? - And
Mandy, I think you're spot on that the easy decisions get made by others. And so
the tough ones are where you need to really step in. And I would say, when I'm
making tough decisions, I consult with others and I pray about it when they're
super, super tough. And I would say, when you don't have to make them immediately
in the moment, sleeping on it is always a good thing because I've often found that
things are much clearer in the morning when you've had a chance to digest and
really think.
So that's what I would say on top decisions, sleep on it. - Brain around that and
that your brain does transfer information sort of back across like over to one side
and back across as a process that your brain goes through sleeping overnight. Yeah.
Through information and decisions so that's great. Yeah. Taking a little time as
always if you don't have to rush into a decision. Right. Right. Sometimes you need
to make them fast but when you don't sleeping on it always helps. Never let them
age long though. Right. Because problems never age well. That's in our staff values
that try not to do not let sit on problems. They don't age well. So I had the
chance recently to have a dinner with the executive officer team at our chapter at
SMU. And several of them were going into finance. So I would be interested to know
what advice you would give to young women today who are looking to pursue a career
in finance. Oh, I would say go for it. First of all, we need so many more great
women in finance and honestly, all the STEM fields. And I would say,
you know, if you're hesitant, because you're wondering if you can have it all in a
demanding field, I would say my trick has been always two things.
One, pick the right place, like I talked about earlier. And two, I've always been
an open book at working at home. You know, I've juggled career and family and kids
and aging parents and, you know, all the things that many women deal with. And my
trick has been be an open book. So where my friends and colleagues at work know
what's going on with me at home and sometimes even the toughest, most private
problems. They know about it so that when you can't be your full self in either at
either work or at home, people give you grace and they want to cover for you.
They want to have your back. And I'd say that trick honestly enables you to work
to manage manage it all in your life. Yeah, it's great to hear you say that. I I
think all cultures are set up for that. We do that at Tri Delta, like we're all
people first and we've got families and kids and things and all of that's gonna
affect your work. I love that you have that culture mindset. And I think it's
really important to women in general because we do have so much in our plates that
we're judge the way. - Agreed. And I think when we share what's going on, it makes
makes us real makes us authentic and people people want to want to help us.
Yeah, I agree. So you get this call that you're going to be named a 2025 woman of
achievement. How does it feel to receive this honor? What does it mean to you? It's
a wow, you know, I'm incredibly humbled because I'd say there's there's no greater
honor than to be recognized by your peers, and in this case, it's not just my
peers, it's my sisters. And you know, I have the chills just saying those words
because it is such a huge honor. Thank you, Mindy. Oh,
we are. We are just excited to celebrate you and all of your accomplishments. I'm
curious what Trout Alto looks like in your life today. How do you keep in touch
with sisters? Is it still part of your life? Yeah, absolutely. I would say my best
and lifelong friends are many of my Tri Delta sisters. You know, they're the ones who
make me smile, make me laugh, keep me grounded, you know, keep me pushing for the
stars, but humble me when I need to be humbled. You know, they're just, they're
just so special. And so I'd say my favorite times, especially over the last 10
years have been when we can gather and be together, whether it's just,
you know, one other or two others or a whole group, you know, I'd say five or six
years ago when my husband and my kids were traveling on a trip, I decided to have
a SMU Tri Delta reunion at my home, and I'd say probably 20 of us gathered,
and it was, it was awesome. That's terrific. I love that. I hear so many stories
like that of people that just still every year get together and they're connected to
that group that they they joined with such a special friendship. Yeah,
for sure. Another big part of what we do and try to out this service and I think
I'm sensing you have taken that on as well as part of your life. I'd love to hear
about your philanthropy work and how you give back. Yeah, thank you. You know, I
often tell my children to whom much is given much is expected. And I know that I
have been richly blessed for a reason. And I want to use, you know, my talent and
my treasure to help make this world a better place. So I am continually focused on
helping and mentoring others, particularly women, you know, I firmly believe that the
world will be much better off when we have more women in more powerful positions,
influencing and impacting. And so, I have a passion for helping have more women in
whatever powerful positions they wanna be in, whether it's politics or business or
government, government, church, whatever, we We need more women, so I'm always focused
on helping and mentoring others. And then from a philanthropy perspective,
I, of course, am focused on women, but I'm also focused now on supporting things
that are important and meaningful to my children and my family. So for example,
my daughter is adopted and lives with type 1 diabetes, which is an awful for seven
disease to manage. And one of my sons serves in the military. So I now support
organizations that are working on a cure for type one diabetes. I support
organizations that help enable adoptions and also help support veterans. And so,
you know, I've taken on my children's causes as well. - I love that. We do that as
parents, don't we? - We learn how And I can't, I can't let that go without telling
you both my boys are adopted. So we have that in common as well. So I love,
I love people that talk about that often and normalize that also. I think there was
a day and time where adoption wasn't as normalized. And so I love that people now
talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. I'd say if, especially for women out there,
if you, if you want to be a mom and you're meant to be a mom. There's so many
different ways you can do it. Adoption is just one of the amazing ways that you
can do it. So what's next for you in your career and your life?
What's coming up for Karen? Well I would say career -wise right now I'm focused on
making an impact at HP. I've been at HP less than a year now. I recently made the
move from Medtronic to HP. And super excited to make an impact there and help set
this amazing company with an amazing brand and history,
set them up for the next best era. That's what I'm focused on. And when I'm done
with that, I intend to retire from my regular day job, and I'll probably join
another corporate board or two and definitely continue on my impact and philanthropy
work. I love it. I love it. Well, we cannot be more thrilled to celebrate you.
Thanks for coming and joining us here today and sharing more of your story. It's
just fun to get to know you better and to let all of our Tridel to Women
celebrate your being named a Woman of Achievement. We're so proud to have you in
our sisterhood. Thank you, Mindy. I'm so honored and really appreciate spending time
with you today too. So many thanks to Karen. Love having her with you here with us
today. You may know of an impressive woman like Karen that you want to recognize by
from Try Delta and you can do that by submitting a nomination for a Distinguished
Delta on the website. We have a Distinguished Delta's page. You can go there and
find figure out how to do that. We hope you will like, subscribe and rate our
podcast. We have three stars in our Crescent but we love those five star ratings.
Thanks for joining us today. Until next time, Delta Love.