Karen is an experienced safeguarding and social‑justice practitioner whose career spans frontline support, organisational leadership and national systems change.
In October 2025, she stepped down as Chief Executive of Money Advice Plus, a charity specialising in financial inclusion and economic‑abuse support, after five years of leading major service developments and sector‑wide improvements in practice. During her time at Money Advice Plus, Karen played a central role in developing the Economic Abuse Evidence Form, a nationally recognised tool that has helped transform how financial institutions and support services identify and respond to economic abuse. She continues to contribute to the charity’s Centre of Excellence for Debt and Economic Abuse, supporting service quality and practitioner development.
Karen is also a trustee of Safe Sport International, bringing her combined expertise in safeguarding, gendered risk and community sport to global conversations about safer environments for young people. Her longstanding involvement in grassroots sport, where she has held governance roles and supported the development of pathways for girls, has deepened her commitment to creating safer spaces both within and beyond traditional safeguarding systems.
Now at the start of a PhD at Durham University, Karen is researching Contextual Safeguarding in local sport with a focus on gendered risks and financial control in girls’ performance pathways. Her academic work builds on her professional commitment to addressing harm that occurs outside the home and understanding how sport systems and their approach to safeguarding can better protect young people.
Across all her roles, Karen is known for her reflective, relational approach and her dedication to building equitable, compassionate systems. She centres lived experience, champions practitioner learning, and works collaboratively to design responses that genuinely improve safety, fairness and wellbeing for those most affected by harm.