George Karakehian

Board of directors

George Karakehian was raised in the Boston area in a close Armenian family. He attended college at Colorado State University. In 1969, he met Kristin at CSU and they were married in 1972. They moved to Kristin’s hometown of Boulder. They have two grown daughters who live with their families in the Boulder area. Mr. Karakehian's first career was in the life insurance business.

His first office in 1970, was located at 1245 Pearl street. He had a rewarding and successful insurance business for fifteen years. He decided to make a major change in direction in 1985 when he went into the antique map, print and book business. George opened his shop, Art Source International, in 1989, at his current location, 1237 Pearl Street. The business has been a unique part of Boulder’s downtown for 27 years. George has been active in the downtown for many years, and is often referred to as ‘ the Mayor of Pearl Street’. He has also been involved with numerous charitable organizations, and his favorite is co-founding, with Bob Charles, the Imagine! Foundation.

Through the years, he has served on various city boards and committees, until he finally decided to run for city council. He served as a city council member for six years, from 2009-2015. He was elected mayor pro-tem of the city council in 2014. Since his retirement from council George has been travelling with Kristin and spending more time working at his business. He continues his interest in civic affairs.