As Senior Advisor, Karen is driven by a passion for helping our team, our client partners and our community thrive. Her leadership roles include advisor and strategist to executives and boards of corporate clients as well as non-profit organizations.
Prior to her role at Walk West, Karen spent more than 20 years with professional services firms including Ketchum, Capstrat and McKinney. In a decade as Capstrat President and then CEO, she helped grow the agency from a 20-person firm into an award-winning market leader. Among her accomplishments are a number of innovations: launching analytics, digital and social media services as well as building a national healthcare practice.
Karen is a marketing industry advocate and the incoming chair of the board of directors for the American Marketing Association. In 2018, she was recognized as the AMA National Chapter Volunteer of the Year. In addition, Karen serves on the board of trustees at William Peace University and the board of directors for the UNC Health Foundation.
Hailing from Wilson, NC (home of the best barbecue), Karen is a Tar Heel through and through. She earned her B.A. degree in journalism and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Karen isn’t leading media campaigns, you can find her enjoying her place in the sun on the North Carolina coast.
