Karen has spent nearly three decades building and leading the finance, audit and compliance functions that keep complex global businesses in control. Most recently, she was VP Global Internal Audit, where over eleven years she led the company's worldwide internal audit and SOX programs, including 4 years as Global Corporate Controller, across multiple jurisdictions. Earlier she held senior audit and control leadership roles as VP of Internal Audit at Brightstar (technology supply chain), Senior Director of Global Internal Audit at Burger King (quick-service restaurants) and SOX Director at AutoNation (automotive) — breadth that extends to defense contracting at Northrop Grumman and lets her move quickly into an unfamiliar business and find what matters.

Her career began in public accounting as a Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young, and that grounding in audit rigor still shapes how she works: getting to the root of risk and control issues, then building the infrastructure and the teams to manage them sustainably. She pairs that operating experience with significant board service — as Board Member, Audit Committee Chairperson and Treasurer for Make-A-Wish Southeast Florida, and as a board member of the American Cancer Society's South Florida chapter — giving her a genuine internal-and-external view of governance.

At The Convened, Karen advises businesses facing structural financial challenge, preparing to maximize exit value, or building out risk and compliance infrastructure that is absent or under-governed — the situations where a board needs independent financial expertise and experienced hands on the controls. She holds a degree from the University of Rhode Island's College of Business.

Excels at: internal audit and SOX leadership, financial control and compliance infrastructure, risk assessment and governance, board and audit-committee advisory, multi-jurisdiction finance operations.