Sara McKenzie

Board of Trustees

Sara McKenzie, MS, MBA, PhD, has spent most of her adult life living and working in the Boston area prior to moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2014. Her formal education included a BS in chemistry and a PhD in biochemistry, and she landed her first job in biotechnology in 1984. While working full time, she also obtained my MBA to better understand the language and processes of business. Sara’s job roles were in project management and project leadership, overseeing new drug development from basic chemistry and biology to animal safety studies, manufacturing, human clinical trials, working with FDA, budgeting, tracking, and strategic planning. After 25 years working for start-ups and small- to mid-sized companies, Sara hung her own shingle as a consultant. She continued the same work with small start-ups in the biopharmaceutical industry, on projects requiring creative thinking to meet the challenges of each individual project, all on tight timelines and meager budgets.

Sara retired from the corporate world at the end of 2022 and has embarked on a new path pursuing her other lifelong love:  making art.  She is currently working as a mixed-media abstract painter and held her first solo show in May of 2023.  Her works are shown at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe, and the Kalled Gallery in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. 

Her first experience with Kripalu came in 2000 when Sara and a friend participated in a weekend of R&R in celebration of her friend’s 40 birthday. Sara returned again and again in the ensuing years to attend various programs, as well as weekends of R&R, and cemented a connection with Kripalu and its teachings.

Kripalu quickly became her spiritual home. She is confident that her business experience and creative thinking provide her with skills transferrable to everyday Kripalu operations, in addition to the development of a long-term strategy to support Kripalu’s dedication to serving people and communities in realizing their full potential.