Three decades of global experience developing talent agendas that drive business results


We make your talent even better.
We create and execute talent management approaches for your growth.
We build customized solutions for both your long-term strategies and short-term needs.
We tackle your talent ecosystem needs.

Karen Richardson
Founder, Richardson Talent Solutions

Karen Richardson is an accomplished executive who partners with organizations and their Boards of Directors to identify, cultivate, and prepare talent to succeed. In today’s business climate, change is swift, brilliant, and often disruptive.

Professionals achieve the best for themselves and their organizations by blending and building expertise together. For Karen, talent planning is a holistic endeavor. It starts with the individual and grows to serve the full enterprise. As each person improves, the collective strength of the organization elevates, and the community thrives.

Whether partnering with a Fortune 50 company, a new venture, or somewhere in between, Karen creates competitive advantage. She focuses on the full employee ecosystem, building and applying plans and processes for organizational health, vibrancy and sustainability.

Possessing both strategic and executional expertise, Karen honed her craft during 25+ years at GE. She was instrumental in designing and implementing GE’s transformational shift from top-down talent reviews to more informal and real-time feedback conversations. The speed with which GE and other organizations have adopted this practice reinforces how people flourish in a valued, accountable culture.

Karen’s belief in a robust employee ecosystem extends to Board interactions. She curates sessions to build Board Directors’ knowledge of key individuals and executive teams. These practices are especially useful with CEO succession planning. Karen ensures Directors are fully informed as she engages with them to identify, develop, and select future leaders for the business.

Colleagues and clients state Karen’s presence engenders trust and openness. They rely on her to instigate and manage constructive debate. She excels at both one-on-one and group discussions, however challenging they may be. She tells people what they need to hear, even when uncomfortable. Throughout all her engagements, she supports both individuals and groups as they take necessary steps to enact positive change and enhance organizational performance.

Karen’s educational background includes a focus in business and finance. She is as comfortable with quantitative analysis as she is with coaching and mentoring. Karen’s expertise covers talent development, C-suite and Board engagement, change management, succession planning, and performance management. Her client roster includes organizations worldwide and across and across various industries from aerospace to financial services, automotive to food service. Her home is in Southern California, where she lives with her husband.

©2020 Richardson Talent Solutions