Karen has been involved in supporting the mission at Marillac St. Vincent Family Services (MSV) for over 25 years: the first 21 years as a volunteer while working full time in the corporate world combined with the last four years working as its CFO. Many hats have been worn!
In addition to various MSV fundraising event committees, Karen served for eight years of service on the Finance Committee with the last four as Chair, and six years on the Board of Trustees with the last three as Chair. As MSV’s CFO for the past four years, she provided financial leadership through a major legal entity restructuring, guided the implementation of new accounting systems, and negotiated its first Bank Line of Credit when the Illinois budget crisis hit.
Prior to joining MSV as CFO, Karen’s financial career was with primarily with publicly held Fortune 500 international companies. Karen started her career with Arthur Andersen & Co. and worked with other Chicago headquartered companies including most recently as Group Senior Vice President Finance at RR Donnelley managing the financial aspects of businesses with over $1 billion in revenue.
She has a BS in Accountancy from NIU and MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University. She is a CPA, a Certified Management Accountant and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt.
Karen would like to share words of wisdom shared with her many years ago: Find your passion to make the world a better place, share your financial expertise, and you will reap vast rewards!!