After an early career in advertising, broadcasting and film production, Haycox’s tenure with Habitat for Humanity began as Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity in Windsor, Canada. She was recruited to join Habitat for Humanity International with a focus on philanthropy, disaster response, and the organization’s annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

In 2015, she joined Habitat for Humanity New York City as Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Haycox oversaw a team of 50 employees and a pipeline of real estate development, construction and housing preservation well beyond the traditional volunteer model for which the organization is so well known, including most notably, the construction of Sydney House, a 57-unit, low-moderate income co-op in the Bronx, with a development budget of $30M, and the largest multi-family development undertaken anywhere in the Habitat network.

Additionally, during her tenure, the organization underwent a geographic expansion from its early footprint in New York City to include Westchester County, NY, adding 6 cities, 10 towns, and 23 villages to its already-complex service area; the launch of the Habitat NYC Community Fund, certified by the US Treasury as a community development financial institution (CDFI), with the aim of leveraging the organization’s balance sheet to create a pool of affordable capital to support affordable housing projects across the state of New York.

And, the cofounding of Interboro Community Land Trust, designed to provide permanent affordability for NYC’s most vulnerable families, as well as the launch of two retail outlets, Habitat ReStores, which operate as a social enterprise generating profit to support the mission.  

Haycox has spent her career working directly with multiple Boards of Directors, including Habitat NYC + Westchester; the Habitat NYC Community Fund (CDFI); two operating committees for the chapter organizations; NYC Habitat and Westchester Habitat; and served on the boards of the New York Housing Partnership; Stonewall Community Development; New York State CDFI Coalition; Pike County Community Foundation; and Rainbow Railroad.

In 2024, Karen was appointed to the Housing Advisory Commission for the city of Berkeley, California, where she resides with her partner and their son, two dogs, and three cats.