Chief People & Platform Officer
Elevate, LLC
Karen Bennett is Chief People & Platform Officer at Elevate, a next-generation professional services platform, where she leads the Firm's people strategy and operational platform across talent acquisition, leadership development, and firmwide integration.
Under Karen's direction, Elevate has scaled its operational infrastructure and integration capabilities to support a growing network of accounting, tax, and advisory firms. With more than 25 years of experience, she is recognized for her leadership in Human Resources and Firm Operations within professional services.
Karen's career spans senior HR and Operations leadership roles at two national accounting firms. Prior to Elevate, she served as VP of Strategy & Operations at Citrin Cooperman, a top 20 firm, where she led Strategic Resource Management across Assurance, Tax, and Advisory, guided the integration of more than 30 firms into a centralized Resource Management process, and introduced firmwide scheduling, capacity planning, and reporting systems. Earlier, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Berdon LLP, a top 50 firm, leading HR strategy across performance management, talent acquisition, talent development, resource management, and employee engagement.
Karen holds a M.A. in Organizational psychology from Columbia University and a B.A. in Psychology from St. Francis College.
Much of the conversation around private equity in accounting focuses on transactions, growth strategies and financial performance. But some of the most significant changes are happening within the workforce—and for the next generation of firm leaders.
In this session, industry experts and HR and people leaders from PE-backed firms will share how private equity investment is reshaping the employee experience and what it means for professionals building their careers in a changing ownership model. The panel will explore evolving career paths and advancement opportunities, changes to compensation and incentives, leadership development, culture and employee engagement, and how firms are identifying and preparing their next generation of leaders.
How does the path to leadership change when partnership is no longer the only—or even the primary—destination? What new opportunities does PE-backed growth create for emerging leaders, and what does it take to retain ambitious professionals as firms grow and transform?
Hear directly from the people leaders navigating these changes about what has worked, where challenges have emerged, and how they are building talent strategies and leadership pipelines designed for the next era of the accounting profession.