Karen is an alumna of both the University of Utah and BYU and became civically engaged by working on campaigns as a young mother. She became the first woman ever to serve at cabinet level in Salt Lake County Government when she became Director of Social Services. She transitioned to publishing when she became co-owner of Network Magazine, which focused on women’s workplace issues. In 1990 she was elected to the Utah State Senate and went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives as the second woman in Utah’s history to be elected to Congress.
Immediately upon leaving Congress Karen was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She then continued her career abroad as part of an international delegation to oversee the registration process and later monitor the first elections held on the West Bank and in Gaza. She was then appointed by President Clinton to represent the United States at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London and served there for 6 years, While there she chaired the East West Trade and Investment Forum of the London, American Chamber of Commerce and became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Back in Salt Lake City she was a member of the Fourth Street Clinic board for 13 years and in 2017 became co-chair of the Prop 4 effort to pass the constitutional amendment that created the independent commission. She now serves on the Better Boundaries Board which is dedicated to protecting that amendment.