Karie Shearer is Co-Founder of WebFX, the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, digital-marketing company she started with William Craig from a Shippensburg University dorm room in the mid-1990s. A computer-science and mathematics graduate who once served as chief operating officer of WebpageFX, she has spent more than two decades shaping the firm's culture and early operations beside Craig, who serves as CEO.
Computer Science at Shippensburg
Shearer studied computer science and mathematics at Shippensburg University, graduating near the top of her computer-science class with a 3.95 GPA as the only woman in that cohort, according to a 2013 Central Penn Business Journal profile. The same piece says her uncle, who worked at IBM, gave her a PC when she was 15 and that she had aimed at computer science ever since.
With William Craig she launched what became WebFX in Naugle Hall when Shippensburg began offering free campus web hosting. Company history pages place those beginnings among the first web-development providers serving Pennsylvania businesses online, under early names including Craig Web Design and WebpageFX.
Running Operations at WebpageFX
As WebpageFX grew through Carlisle shared offices and later Harrisburg buildings known as The Mansion, FX2, and FX3, Shearer ran operations as co-founder. The 2013 CPBJ profile listed her as chief operating officer during a year of roughly 35 percent growth, and credited her role in Technology Council of PA and Inc. 5000 recognition; she was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2010 Harrisburg Chamber Business Awards.
WebFX's current leadership page still lists her as Co-Founder and says that for more than two decades she has defined the cultural standards behind the organization's growth.