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As chief financial officer for Delaware North Companies Inc., Karen Kemp has fiscal responsibility for a $1.6 billion hospitality company based in Buffalo, N.Y.
She joined Delaware North in January 2000, returning to her native Western New York to assume the role of vice president of human resources with overall responsibility for employee recruitment, management development, training, compensation, benefits, employee relations and labor relations for 28,000 associates at well over 100 locations worldwide. In 2002, she was promoted to the newly created position of chief administrative officer with responsibility for a portfolio of corporate functions that included communications, human resources, legal, risk management, security and supply management.
With a background in finance and human resources, as well as experience managing investor relations, public relations, facilities management, legal and strategic planning departments, Kemp has spent the last 10 years in executive level positions with Fisher-Price Inc., and most recently, Gibson Greetings Inc., where she was senior vice president of human resources and administration.
She also worked for Goldome Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., rising to the level of vice president of financial planning and analysis, and vice president of compensation and benefits before leaving for an opportunity at Fisher-Price. Soon after joining the well-known children’s products company, she was named to a team responsible for helping the organization spin off from its parent, The Quaker Oats Company, in order to become an independent, publicly held corporation.
A resident of Orchard Park, N.Y., Kemp is a graduate of the University of Buffalo who holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in business administration and finance. She is an active member of the community and has served as a director of The Gibson Foundation, Cincinnati Philharmonic Orchestra, Ronald McDonald House and the University of Buffalo Executive MBA Advisory Board. | 