Chief Financial Officer

Karen has dedicated her professional journey to make her corner of the world a better place. It is this passion that drew her to nonprofit leadership 20 years ago where she began her career as business manager at the Arc of Southeast Iowa. With her strong administrative and leadership abilities, Karen drove significant operational and financial growth at the Arc, ending her 12-year tenure there as chief executive officer. Karen’s next challenge was the introduction and implementation of a new financial model and a transformative merger of business divisions at the Iowa Care Community, a major administrative support organization for community-based health care nonprofits. When she moved to Denver in 2022, Karen took the position of chief financial officer at Raise the Future, a multi-state nonprofit serving vulnerable children and families where she managed and grew a $14M budget. In 2024, she joined Second Chance Center as their Director of Finance to support their continued growth and success. Karen is supporting Growing Hope as CFO in a contract capacity.

Karen received her Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and an MBA in leadership and business administration from the University of Iowa.