Karrah Herring, J.D.

2022 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENT

BA 2005, Communication

Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity Officer; Office of Governor Eric J. Holcomb

Karrah (Miller) Herring is a native and resident of South Bend, IN and a proud graduate of the South Bend Community School Corporation. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications/Public Relations from Purdue University (’05) and her Juris Doctorate from Valparaiso University School of Law (’11). On November 19, 2020, Indiana governor, Eric Holcomb announced his appointment of Karrah to his cabinet as Indiana’s first-ever Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity Officer for the state. In this role, she works with the governor and his team to improve state government operations as well as remove hurdles in the government workplace and services the state provides. Within the first year, Karrah has engaged with over 300 stakeholders, built the infrastructure of the office, and in conjunction with other agencies rolled out the State of Indiana's first ever Equity Data Portal. Her team's two-year strategic plan will focus on growing access and opportunity in education and economic development.

Prior to joining Governor Holcomb's team, Karrah worked for the University of Notre Dame for nearly a decade and served as the Director of Public Affairs in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications. Prior to her role with Public Affairs, she served on the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Human Resources Senior Executive Leadership team as the Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and University Title IX Coordinator. Her team focused on workplace culture compliance including Title VII, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, AA/EEO and workplace investigations of harassment and discrimination and workplace culture training efforts.

Karrah has received a number of awards and recognition and serves on various boards and commissions. She was most recently named as one of Indiana’s 250 most influential business leaders by the Indianapolis Business Journal. Additionally, she was named to the Indianapolis Business Journal’s prestigious Forty leaders under 40 2022 list. Last year, she was named by the South Bend Regional Chamber as their 2021 Woman of Influence. In October of 2021, the chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Rush, asked Karrah to serve as the executive branch’s representative on the Indiana Supreme Court’s Commission on Equity and Access within Indiana Courts. Karrah is not only serving on the commission but is also chairing the subcommittee within the commission to look at pathways to the legal profession’s bench and bar for historically underrepresented groups. She is also a member of the Center for Digital Government’s Digital Equity Advisory Committee and the NASHP Population and Public Health Steering Committee.

Karrah is the assistant pastor of her family's church, Faith Alive Ministries in South Bend, where she supports her brother, the senior pastor, Pastor YPJ, and their parents Bishop Eddie and Diana Miller. In 2020, Karrah authored a book on the intersection of race and gender and the complexities of how Black women navigate corporate culture, religion, higher education and athletics.

Karrah is married to Ray Herring (graduate of the University of Notre Dame ’09) and they have three children, Bryce, Brianna and Ja’Mari.