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Melaver staff member since: 1994.

As the firm's longest-serving, non-family employee, Karen has provided guidance to the firm's growth for a decade, while seeking to protect our strong, ethical culture. Karen earned her BA from University of Texas at Austin before pursuing post-graduate studies
At Georgia State University. Karen is a Certified Public Accountant and served as the President of the Savannah/Chatham County Board of Public Education from 1993 to 1998. As head of the company's control & accounting function, Karen has ultimate authority for all property and corporate accounting functions; directly oversees the firm's relationships with outside capital and lending sources; negotiates and maintains Melaver, Inc's credit facilities (credit lines; construction loans; permanent financing, etc.); analyzes debt to equity ratios to ensure management remains within board-directed parameters; and monitors the firm's interest rate exposure. Karen received the 2004 Core Value award for Profitability while still retaining her hallmark style of calm, kind leadership. She is LEED 2.0 accredited. In 2005 Karen passed the Georgia Real Estate Boards and is now a licensed agent. She has also become a candidate member of the CCIM Institute (Certified Commercial Investment Member), by passing the first three comprehensive exams in a series of four.

Personal Comments:

Likes: Hobbies include woodworking, birding and traveling.

Dislikes: I cannot tolerate prejudice and I don’t care for television.

A green item I would like to own: a 150 year-old live oak tree.

A place I would like to visit: Australia

Books on my night table: From Beirut to Jerusalem; Daily Meditations for Women

A person I admire: Gandhi

Favorite quote: "If I ran a school, I'd give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I'd give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them and then told me what they learned from them." R. Buckminster Fuller