About Karen

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I started my recruiting career as an Account Executive with Management Recruiters International, immediately got the recruiting bug, and have never looked back. I started a new practice focused on Professional Services and built it from nothing to being the sole point of contact for a major consulting firm.  It was all about dedication and building relationships and I loved it!  

I transitioned to corporate recruiting when one of my clients asked me to join them as the first Executive Recruiter for their growing Southwest Florida presence. I took the leap of faith, moved from the Midwest to Naples, Florida and fell in love with living in tropical paradise.  I ended up leading their recruitment efforts through a major merger-acquisition.

I joined Chico's in a time of high growth and hiring frenzy.  I was quickly and repeatedly recognized with increasing responsibility, eventually managing recruitment for all Shared Services functions across all brands. I also became known as the Project Queen, leading most all of our new recruiting initiatives, with a focus on employment branding, recruitment marketing, and technology. 

I was recruited to join Simon Property Group as their first Head of Talent Acquisition.  It required moving to Indianapolis, but it was an opportunity to build the Talent Acquisition function for a Fortune 500 company from the ground up.  I developed all of the recruiting strategies, processes and programs for the company, hired a team to support the function, and personally handled all of our executive search initiatives.  

After more than six years with Simon, I had the opportunity to lead Talent Acquisition for a global technology organization, where I spent the next couple of years centralizing the function, creating cohesiveness, and standardizing processes across the global team.  

To round out my search experience, I joined Korn Ferry International where I spent some time as a Managing Director for our Interim Executive Search practice and then as a Managing Consultant for the Consumer and Technology Practice of Korn Ferry's Professional Search division.  This experience allowed me to futher refine my client development and executive search execution skills.

While all of my experiences have been tremendously rewarding, I am now excited to focus on building Gray Parker Associates -- in beautiful Naples, Florida!  I look forward to helping you!

I thrive on projects.  Whatever the assignment, I throw myself at it.  I love to build great relationships with candidates and clients, and to ultimately create the perfect match.  

I worked hard and have had a successful career.  Now I am focused on sharing my success to support important causes.  Ask me for details about "Making Matches. Giving Back."