One of Qorvis’ founding partners, Karen Vahouny has more than 25 years of experience in corporate communications and investor relations. At Qorvis, she leads account teams involved in corporate communications and integrated communications.  Her track record as an investor relations strategist, combined with her background in corporate communications, has generated proven results for both public and private companies across a range of size and industry sectors.   She has particular expertise with corporate image strategy and message development, merger & acquisition communications, and corporate repositioning and turnaround situations.

Vahouny was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors for the National Endowment of Financial Education in January 2010.

Prior to joining Qorvis and one of its predecessor companies The Poretz Group, she was vice president of corporate communications for PRC, a $750 million information technology company.  There, Vahouny provided strategic direction and leadership, overseeing the company's corporate image, media relations, marketing communications, corporate contributions and community relations. She also assumed responsibility for one P&L center, the Publications/Multimedia Services Department, and instituted financial controls, strategic and marketing planning, and team-building, resulting in two years of consecutive growth.  Vahouny led the communications effort that helped position the company for sale to Litton.

She was twice named Business Communicator of the Year for the Washington Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) – the only time a recipient has been selected for this award more than once.  IABC is the world’s largest global communications association with more than 15,000 professionals in the field of communications and public relations.  A former member of IABC international and IABC Research Foundation boards, Vahouny wrote the chapter on investor relations for the third and fourth editions of the communications textbook, The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication, has written articles for Communication World, and has served on the speaking faculty for a number of international conferences. She also is a long-time member of the Capital Area Chapter board of directors for the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI).

Vahouny is an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Marymount University.  She also was responsible for developing a communications module for the Executive Masters Program at the University of Maryland’s University College. 

Education

She holds a Bachelor of Science in marketing from the University of Virginia and a Master in Business Administration in finance and management from George Mason University.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karen-vahouny/9/b48/474