Karen Barr

Karen is the President and CEO of the Investment Adviser Association. She is a native Washingtonian. Karen received her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1988, where she was an editor on the Journal of Law Reform.

After law school, Karen served as law clerk to the Honorable Walter E. Black, Jr., a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. From 1989 until March 1997, when she joined the IAA, Karen was in private practice at the Washington, D.C. law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where she represented clients with respect to SEC investigations, securities class action litigation, administrative proceedings, internal corporate investigations, and securities regulatory matters. Karen is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.