About the author
As Team Leader at the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), Karen oversees operations and personnel. She is a regular contributor to LEI's Lean Post blog, offering practical advice to managers and executives about how to start and sustain continuous improvement initiatives. LEI recently published her first book, Steady Work, about how Starbucks Coffee Company survived the global economic crisis by turning the traditional management model on its head, requiring managers to become deeply familiar with value-adding frontline work by deploying a lean operating and management system.
Karen is in demand as a conference presenter, public workshop instructor, and on-site coach helping companies implement lean management principles and tools. Her hands-on experience includes coaching executives, managers, and frontline associates in relevant lean management concepts and tools.
Her 30 years' of management experience also includes leading, training, and coaching high-performance teams of staff and executives in rapid-growth environments. For instance, as regional director of operations at Starbucks, she built a consistent track record of growing the number of retail stores along with the continuous improvement capabilities of people.
Besides leading the growth of Starbucks' New England market, she also mentored regional executive directors, managers, and coaches in how to implement the company's lean operating and management system. Karen made significant recommendations during development of a model line for teaching and spreading the lean system. She led the line's first application in a retail store, providing feedback on how to implement the system in Starbucks stores across the U.S.
During her career, Karen has held management and executive posts in operations, marketing, and training at large restaurant chains, a retail consulting company, and a technology startup preparing for an initial public offering.