Presentation Title: US Government Accountability Office (GAO) Best Practice Guides
PMI Talent Triangle: Strategic and Business Management
Biography: Karen Richey is a senior Lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California. In this position, she teaches students best practices related to cost estimating, scheduling, earned value management, technology readiness and Agile development methods. Prior to joining NPS in 2018, Karen was an Assistant Director for the Applied Research and Methods Team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). During her almost 20 years at GAO, Karen was responsible for performing cost, schedule, and Earned Value Management analyses to support audit findings on a wide range of government programs. Certified by the National Defense University as a Chief Information Officer (CIO), Karen is also Level-III certified in the field of cost estimating and financial management. She has 28 years of experience in the fields of cost estimating, scheduling, and EVM analysis.
Before joining the GAO, Karen was a cost analyst for the Department of the Navy where she performed earned value management and developed independent cost estimates for major weapon programs and automated information systems. Karen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics and Mathematics from the University of South Carolina and a Master’s degree in Cost Estimating and Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). In the past few years, she has developed and delivered training classes for auditors on cost estimating, scheduling, and EVM as well as co-authoring articles in The INTOSAI IT Journal and the Navy Comptroller Magazine. She has also taught Masters level classes at NPS after completing her degree.
In June 2009, Karen received an Award of Excellence from the Federal Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) and an Award of Merit from the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International for leading the development of the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. In March 2011, she received a CPIC Best Educational Contribution award for providing an outstanding contribution in training and educational tools for CPIC and related fields. In June 2018, Karen received the Gary Christle Leadership award for developing a series of “best practice” guides that contributed significantly to effective understanding of EVM within the GAO, and throughout government, industry and academia. These guides include the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, the Schedule Assessment Guide, Technology Readiness Assessment Guide, and the Agile Development and Implementation Guide (coming soon).
