Karen McGowan

About Karen McGowan

I’m a strategic and results-driven business leader with a passion for building high-performing teams, transforming operations, and driving sustainable growth. With deep experience in workforce management, finance, and business transformation across complex global organizations, I help businesses unlock value by aligning people, process, and technology.At IBM, I’ve led shared services and workforce strategy organizations supporting a supply chain of professionals and greater than $8B in annual revenue — shaping data-driven talent strategies that deliver measurable business outcomes. My leadership philosophy centers on insight, empathy, and innovation — empowering teams to deliver with purpose while optimizing performance through cognitive and AI-enabled tools.Recognized among IBM’s Top 1% of leaders with the Best of IBM Award, I’ve spent my career transforming how organizations operate — from implementing analytics-driven performance systems to leading major cost optimization and workforce redesign efforts.Core strengths: Workforce Strategy | Financial Leadership | Cognitive Transformation | Predictive Analytics | Talent Development | Global Operations | Business AgilityLet’s connect to discuss building smarter, more resilient, and human-centered organizations.

Experience

1. Director Workforce Management- Ibm C Americas

   IBM

   Feb 2020 — Present · New York, NY, US

   Lead 200 person shared svc organization,$15M per year budgets missioned to empower profitable growth through cognitive workforce management capabilities to deliver the right skills at the right time in the right place for the right cost, yielding business outcomes that matter to our clients, our employees, and our company by:o Delighting clients with our exceptional talent o Being the trusted partner providing insight into pro-active workforce managemento Advocating enhanced employee work experience through assignments aligned to career aspirationso Delivering integrated tools fueled by cognition relying on trusted sources of data

Education

• New Jersey Institute of Technology

  BS Industrial Engineering, Industrial Engineering

• Seton Hall University

  MBA, Finance

• Seton Hall University

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Finance and Financial Management Services

• Seton Hall University

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Finance

Skills

• Program Management
• Accounting
• Business Intelligence
• Sap
• Business Process Improvement
• Change Management
• Leadership
• Financial Analysis
• Outsourcing
• Contract Negotiation
• Financial Modeling
• Business Process
• Hyperion Enterprise
• Process Improvement
• Budgets
• Management
• Forecasting
• Managerial Finance
• Consolidation
• Strategic Planning
• Business Analysis
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• Negotiation
• Financial Reporting