March in the Rain

Karen M. Hartley Nagle is a long-term resident of Delaware.  She resides in Bellefonte and is a devoted mother to four children: Brittany (30), Thomas (24), Cameron (23) and Katheryn (21), raised right here in Delaware, and now a grandmother to Kaleigh (1).   Shortly after becoming Council President in 2016, Karen became the caregiver for her mother, who became a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease and passed July 4, 2020.

Karen attended Wilmington University, Moore College of Art, and Delaware Technical and Community College.  She has a diverse set of skills with a dual degree in Organizational Management and Political Science, with a concentration in Education, and Certification in Child Advocacy, 2021. 

As a small business owner, Karen was dedicated to helping others through the promotion of business partnerships, public relations, and child advocacy. As a consultant, Karen worked for a University on Corporate Partnerships, partnering businesses with educational programs to increase the skills, knowledge, and expertise of our current workforce.  

As a civic activist, she championed the enhancement of open and transparent government through her time as a Board Member of Delaware Common Cause and a founding member of the Coalition for Open Government. She was also a Member of the New Castle County Board of Adjustment and the Executive Director of the Nagle Foundation.  Karen’s experience in these fields provides her with the skills to understand and address the needs and wants of the people of our community.

Council President Hartley-Nagle’s two main objectives are to enhance the County’s economic development efforts and improve senior citizen programs. She has a strong desire to produce programs and activities that will both attract new and stabilize existing businesses. 

She is also an advocate of the redevelopment of substandard properties and the utilization of brownfields. She believes that it is our duty to improve the quality of life for our senior citizen population. Her desire is to promote efforts to improve activities at senior centers and explore methods to assist them financially. 

As County Council President Karen will champion collaboration with all parties, excellence, ideas, innovation, transparency, and action in our government. Karen knows working together we can make a lasting difference in New Castle County.