Karen is the COO of Federated Hermes Global Private Equity business. She has overall responsibility for ensuring a best-in-class organisational infrastructure for clients, investment teams and business development activities. Her role also involves growth strategy design and implementation including the planning and prioritisation of strategic initiatives. Karen sits on the Federated Hermes Private Markets Management Committee and is a member of the Federated Hermes GPE Senior Management Team. Karen previously worked in finance at Matrix Property Management and began her career at Equity Asset Management. Karen is Vice-Chair on both Invest Europe’s Working Group on Accounting Standards, Valuation and Reporting, and Invest Europe’s Professional Standards Committee. She is Vice Chair of the British Venture Capital Association Accounting, Governance & Reporting Committee, and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Karen holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology with Criminology and a Master of Arts in Psychoanalysis. At the Real Deals 2021 ‘The Drawdown Awards’, Karen received the accolade of ‘COO of the Year’.