BIO, KAREN L. FREEMAN, BOARD MEMBER

 

After 38 years of service, Karen retired from the Senior Executive Service (SES) of the federal government and is now an Executive Adviser to several companies that provide services to the federal sector.  Prior to retirement, Karen served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for Operations at the Internal Revenue Service. As DCIO, Karen was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the IT organization, which included overseeing 6500 employees, a budget of $1.6 billion, and 500 systems and supporting infrastructure.  Her primary responsibility was ensuring that the nation’s tax infrastructure was updated and in place for the processing of over 200 million tax returns annually.  Karen was also a champion for the IT Workforce Strategy to achieve delivery excellence by developing existing employees and attracting the next generation of talent. Her commitment and excellence in IT operations merited a 2017 Presidential Rank Award, which recognizes members of the SES for exceptional performance over an extended period.

 

Prior to her role as DCIO, Karen served as the Associate Chief Information Officer (ACIO) for Enterprise Operations where she was a principal adviser to the CTO/CIO and managed a 1,800 person organization responsible for providing efficient, cost-effective, secure, and  reliable server and mainframe services for all IRS business entities and taxpayers. This included providing 24x7x365 operations support to both internal and external IRS customers.

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Karen is a graduate of the IRS’s 2005 Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program and holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. She also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of the IRS’s Artificial Intelligence Program.