Karen serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Utilities Service Alliance (USA) and has over 40 years of experience in commercial nuclear power. As President & CEO of USA, she oversees the company’s business strategies and objectives and provides organizational leadership for the company. USA is an alliance that is dedicated to helping member utilities achieve and maintain safe, cost-effective top quartile operations.

Prior to joining UUSA, Karen served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Urenco, USA, the nation’s only large scale enricher of uranium for nuclear power. Karen has also served as the Site Vice President for two different nuclear power plants: Vogtle 3 & 4 and Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant. She also served as the Vice President of Nuclear Projects at Xcel Energy and Vice President of Nuclear Oversight at FirstEnergy.

Karen holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Mississippi College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. She has a Senior Reactor Operator Certification, Professional Project Management Certification, and attended the Wharton Executive Program. Karen is an active member in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), the American Nuclear Society, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council in the Bagley College of Engineering and Foundation Board at Mississippi State University. Karen also serves on the Executive Advisory Council for Women In Nuclear. In 2018, Karen received a Distinguished Engineering Fellow from the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. In 2022, Karen was named one of the “Women Worth Watching in STEM” by the Diversity Journal.