Short description: Leadership in a digitalized world requires dealing with an unpredictable and challenging future with increased responsibilities amid transitions, disruptions, chaos and ambiguity. An ethical compass for digital transformation must be used as ethical behaviours of computers can affect the lives and livelihood of people. As the adoption of technology increases in every university, organization, business, and company – so are there increases in risks and a greater need for accountability. Ethical leaders in a digitalized world must communicate the impact of digital initiatives on society and adopt personal and professional ethics that establish a culture that influences decisions and policy to prevent unethical behaviour by machines.

Bio: Karen A. Holbrook was appointed regional chancellor at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus on Jan. 2, 2018, after serving as executive vice president at USF Sarasota-Manatee campus and senior advisor to the president of the University of South Florida since the summer of 2017. She has served on the boards of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), ACT, Inc., the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the American Council of Education (ACE), the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (now APLU), the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Washington Advisory Group (WAG), among others. Dr. Holbrook has also participated on advisory panels and councils for the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS) and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the immediate past Director of the NIH (Elias Zerhouni). She currently serves on the boards of the Institute of International Education (IIE), CRDF Global, Bio-Techne, Academic Assembly, Inc., INTO USF, and is the immediate past board chair for Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and until recently, served on the Board of Trustees for Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Global Federation of Councils of Competitiveness (GFCC). Holbrook was an active biomedical researcher and NIH MERIT Award investigator early in her career. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a doctorate in Biological Structure at the University of Washington School of Medicine where she served as a postdoctoral fellow in dermatology, faculty member and research administrator.