Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Checkr, Inc., and the Executive Director of the Checkr Foundation

Serving as Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Checkr, Inc. and Executive Director of the Checkr Foundation, Checkr’s 501(c)(3) corporate foundation, Ken Oliver is integral to justice reform. His organization’s mission is to Build a Fairer Future of Work by designing technology for all. Alongside that pursuit, Checkr’s Foundation is providing pathways to sustainable employment for the 80M Americans who suffer from arrest and conviction records. Ken's professional expertise spans the landscape of philanthropy, DE&I, Clean Slate, talent development, change management, and public policy.

His proximate leadership is informed by lived experience after having been sentenced to life in prison for joyriding. During his close to 24 years of incarceration, he served nine years in solitary confinement for reading a book written by former Black Panther Party member George Jackson. With the support of Stanford University and corporate law firm Mayer Brown, Mr. Oliver successfully litigated a civil rights lawsuit against California, which led to his release in 2019. Upon release, Mr. Oliver quickly established himself in the legal field, first as a paralegal at a public interest law firm and later as a state policy director.

In 2020, he co-founded and became the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization where he designed an innovative reentry model focused on providing justice-impacted individuals with career pathways in tech and the knowledge-based economy. He then led an effort that secured a $28.5 million investment from the State of California to build the first of its kind residentially based tech training campus in the country.

Ken's insights and contributions to the field have been recognized and featured in publications such as Newsweek, Fast Company, Forbes, Inc., the New York Times, World Economic Forum, Bloomberg, and others. He also played a role in shaping California Governor Newsom’s 2021 Future of Work Report.