 Karen Richey is currently a senior cost analyst at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and has been working there as an auditor since 1998.
In her current position, Karen has been responsible for leading cost, schedule, and technical assessments of a variety of government programs including the Department of Defense’s Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), and the Veterans Affairs Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES).
Using the best practices outline in the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, Karen helps the Congress oversee the US federal government’s spending of public funds.
Raised in Northern Virginia, as second of three sisters, Karen spent her time horse back riding and participating on the Junior Olympic diving team. She graduated from Lake Braddock High School in 1986, and received an athletic scholarship to the University of South Carolina (USC) as a member of the diving team. She earned a B.S. in Mathematical Statistics from USC and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1990.
Upon graduation, Karen worked as a cost analyst for the Naval Air Systems Command. During this time, she used earned value management (EVM) to assess aircraft and missile systems cost and schedule performance. She also worked on cost models for an aircraft modernization program. In 1993, Karen went to work at the Naval Center for Cost Analysis where she developed independent cost estimates for a variety of Navy programs including the P-3 aircraft modernization program, the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS), and the Navy Tactical Command Support System (NTCSS). |
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In 1998, Karen accepted a job as a senior cost analyst at the Government Accountability Office. Since that time, Karen has helped auditors and managers use EVM data to identify cost and schedule drivers in major federal programs and to alert the Congress of programs that are at risk of experiencing cost overruns.
In this capacity, Karen has been holding training classes to better inform GAO auditors how to use cost, schedule, and EVM data to develop audit findings and recommendations. She has also led the review of more than 100 audits and currently manages a team of cost, schedule, and EVM analysts.
More recently, Karen managed the development of the first ever federal guidance for cost, schedule, and EVM best practices. This effort took several years and involved working with hundreds of experts in the fields of cost / schedule estimating, risk analysis, EVM, and program management to identify and collect best practices used both in government and private industry. This effort has been well received and in 2007, Karen was given the Rising Star Award for providing leadership in government.
In her free time, Karen enjoys gardening, practicing Bikram yoga, reading, watching television, and spending time outdoors with her husband and children. Karen also volunteers at her church serving time in the nursery and access ministry which offers respite care for special needs children and their families. She enjoys traveling both in the US and abroad and has recently been to
Israel, Italy, Japan, and London.
Article by Julie Owen, CCC PSP
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