“Karen has the unique combination of being both a skillful project manager and a solid people manager. As a project manager, I have seen her unwind complex and convoluted projects and devise clear and achievable project plans. She works to achieve the project goals by constantly monitoring progress, refining plans when necessary and driving to demonstrable results. As a people manager, she is a strong believer in getting the right people, in the right seats on the bus (a reference to Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”). Karen works closely with her team towards their personal development and goal achievement in a firm but fair way. As a peer, she provides clear and concise communication and works closely with other managers to further the department and company goals. In general, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Karen and hope our paths cross, again, one day.” December 23, 2006

Art Spaziano , Director of IT Development
 Progress Software

“I reported directly to Karen while working at Blue River Associates. We both worked on the CVS Ad Managment Project.  She was able to take a very nebulous development operation and turn it around in to a well defined and organized project. Karen was easy to work with, and was able to work well with a development team, and a creative marketing as a client, which in my mind is a very hard task to do.” December 15, 2006

Jeffrey Werner , Consultant
 Blue River Associates

“This serves as an endorsement for Karen Johnson. I worked for Karen in the Release Management Department at Fidelity Investments for 2 years. I admired her for her many valuable qualities, and regarded her with evermore respect. Very goal oriented, Karen was always dedicated to her work and the job at hand. Karen demonstrated in her tenure that she understood what business is all about. She was well organized. Almost without exception, she put the customer first, feeling as I do that the key to good business is satisfied customers. I suppose doing well in business is easy if you are, as she was, driven by quality. Karen is a visionary and brings new, fresh ideas to the table. She is a advocate of change and process improvement never loosing site of excellent customer service. In closing, let me say I have no hesitation in endorsing Karen Johnson for any management position in information technology. I feel confident she would be an asset to any organization.” December 22, 2006

Craig Mankiewicz , Consultant Systems Engineer
Fidelity Investments

“Karen is one of the few who understand that business process, a well defined IT architecture, proper systems engineering and the enforcement of standards must drive a companies technology infrastructure, not the other way around.” December 2, 2004

Christopher Glennon , Re-engineering Consultant/Project Manager
  FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

“Karen - Thank you for the work you have done to support the Hess initiative. From the first day on site, you were driven by results. This drive combined with your attention to detail and your ability to set up an infrastructure for tracking and reporting help create consistent and reliable information from which the team could work. The tools and techniques you have transitioned over to Andy are invaluable as we head into 2009! Thanks again for your commitment, and your sense of humor!”

Maura McIntosh
PMO Manager, Dunkin' Brands

“Karen, I just wanted to say thank you for all of the help you've provided me with over the last couple of weeks.  For as complex as this project is, I can't imagine being anymore prepared than you've left me.  I take a great amount of comfort in knowing that you've provided me with everything I need to do to do this job and do it well.  Now it’s just a matter of pulling it all together and that actually happening.  And none of that would be possible without the hard work that you've put in to make this transition a success.  I can very much see why Kevin told me on our first conference call that if he had his way, he would never let KJo go !"

Andrew Buchmann,
Development Manager, Dunkin' Brands

“Karen, Hess in 2008 is quite a success.  Considering almost every metric, we have exceeded our goals - and you have played a very important role in this team's success.  Your project management skills had a tremendously positive impact that was felt immediately.  Thank you also for ensuring a smooth transition with Andy.  Please stay in touch.”

John Dawson,
Chief Real Estate Development Officer, Dunkin' Donuts