Karen is the Director of USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, State Systems Office. Her team specializes in helping states understand and survive the Advance Planning Document (APD) process. She holds a degree in International Relations and Russian, which is now virtually useless (although Soviet era skills may be coming back in style). Before becoming a Fed, she worked as a product support analyst and trainer for a software company that got eaten by a larger company and doesn't exist anymore. Growing tired of the glamour of working weekends, sleeping on airplanes and eating meals out of vending machines, Karen left the private sector to join FNS 26 years ago. Karen joined the SSO at its inception in 2007, and has enjoyed working on things that she hopes make your life easier, like improving federal guidance, creating training workshops, and developing relationships across Program boundaries. Karen lives in Denver, with her adoring husband, but loves to travel and runs away to sip wine and practice her Italian whenever possible.