Karen Ouchterloney brings a 15-year history of retail buying, merchandising, and planning and allocation experience in specialty, department stores and e-commerce divisions. Her expertise in building and developing strong, high-functioning teams for high-level brands in the retail arena gives her a unique understanding of cultural fit and developing and assessing talent for the retail world. Because she speaks the language of retail, she is able to decipher client needs for specific roles and determine critical candidate skill sets.

Prior to her role at Kirk Palmer Associates, Karen was most recently employed at The Jones Group as Director of Merchandising and Buying for Jones Retail and E-commerce. She was with Coach from 2000 to 2008, as Divisional Vice President: North America-Retail Merchandise Planning. Previously, Karen was at J. Crew as a Planning and Allocation Manager. In the beginning of her career Karen spent five years in department stores in a variety of merchandising and buying roles. Her broad product category experience includes: handbags, accessories, footwear, men’s and women’s apparel, gifts and jewelry.