Karen Rhodes-Whitley
Director of Budget & Research, City of Plano, Texas
Karen Rhodes-Whitley, is currently the Director of Budget & Research for the City of Plano, Texas, and has over 35 years of financial budgeting experience. She has been with the City of Plano for 33 years, 24 of which she has served as the Budget Director. In addition to her Budget duties, she is currently the Program Co-Chair for GFOAT and was recently appointed Chair of the CORBA Committee with GFOA. She is also Past-President of the Government Financial Officers Association of Texas and past member of the Economic Development and Capital Planning Committee and Budget Committee for the National Government Financial Officers Association plus is a Budget Reviewer. Karen holds a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MPA from the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also a Certified Public Manager and a Registered Tax Assessor/Collector. She also serves as an Associate Director of the Institute of Public Finance Certificate Program through Texas Tech University. She has been a speaker on various budget and capital project topics at GFOA, GFOAT, TML and ICMA Conferences. In November 2014, she received the 2014 Outstanding Service Award from the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas.