Caren Hergenroeder

Athlete, Care taker, Designer, Event planner, Project manager, Social entrepreneur

Caren graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1997 with a degree in mathematical sciences and a minor in nuclear engineering. While at the Academy, Caren lettered on the varsity track and field team, competing in long jump and sprints. Upon graduation, she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in the Adjutant General Corps. She served at Fort Hood, Texas as a Detachment Commander and Aide-de-Camp to a two star general. In 2002, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management from Webster University at Fort Jackson, South Carolina while attending the Adjutant General Captains’ Career Course. Caren deployed to Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom with the Defense Intelligence Agency. While performing her job at Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Virginia, she was concurrently selected to serve as a White House Social Aide for President and Mrs. George W. Bush from 2004 to 2007, where she helped facilitate over 115 social events at the White House for the First Family. In 2007, Caren married her husband, Matt, and left the Army as a Major and in 2008, started working as a Protocol Officer for the Department of the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington. In 2010, she and Matt moved to Springfield, Virginia and Caren has served in the protocol field as a Department of the Army and Department of Defense civilian ever since. In 2015, she had the opportunity to serve a rotational assignment at the Pentagon in the protocol office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where she helped plan the Chairman’s Retirement Ceremony held at Fort Myer, Virginia. Currently, she serves as the Director of Protocol and Strategic Partnerships at Defense Acquisition University at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a position she has held since 2014. Caren has two children, Sydney, age 11 and Matthew, age 8. Her husband, Matt, retired from the Army in 2019 with over 30 years of honorable service.

Finding hope even in the darkest hours. Embracing life's journey, ups, downs, all of it. Not holding out for happiness, but enjoying what you have in the present moment.

Sometimes balance isn't all it's cut out to be. It's ok to binge one way or another from time to time in order to fill your soul. It's knowing when you NEED to offset the balance that is the key. What are the tell signs? When do you really need to slow down and say no? Or when is it time to full force go after your next goal? The key is being in tune with your own self talk, sleeping patterns and overall ability to stay focused on the present.

As the Protocol & Strategic Partnerships Director at Defense Acquisition University, I have helped lead and organize four TEDx events for DAU. The first TEDxDAU was in-person in 2019, and we had over 400 attendees! The next was in 2020, was virtual and incorporated both live and pre-recorded portions due to COVID restrictions (2500+ attendees). Then came our third TEDxDAU in 2021 where I served as the Co-Lead and Producer. We streamed live from our auditorium to over 3,000 attendees and aligned all our talks to ideas worth spreading in regards to our National Defense Strategy. Last year, for the first time, we had thousands of virtual attendees plus a small in-person audience! We received amazing feedback and I am now on a TED high from how much I enjoyed motivating our team and pulling them together for success. I'm excited to take my passion towards TED and apply it to this year’s event where we will add even another component (each year keeps getting better and better) and both stream live and include up to 350 people in our audience. We’ve shown that we can adapt to any environment and I’m looking forward to learning even more to move our event upward.

Coaching and teaching young athletes to become even more passionate about the sport of track and field. I can take an average, unmotivated runner, and make them believe they are the fastest person on the track. It's all about building confidence and positive self-talk.