Karla is known for producing results and being a powerful resource whose instincts have steered internal audit strategy in the financial services industry since 1990. Karla joined the United States Navy Reserves in 1985 and served for 14 years.

In the Navy Reserves Karla leveraged her natural ability to seek order from chaos and built control policies to help audit reserve centers, resulting in significant savings and efficiencies wherever she went. Following her time at Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Karla served on the auditing team at TIG Holdings, Inc., where she held concurrent roles culminating in Internal Investigations Manager working on fraud investigations. Karla then transitioned to EY where she served as Manager, Internal Audit Services, and Service Delivery Manager in support of the development of a new initiative. She then began her tenure at Nationwide, where she built the internal audit department at Scottsdale Insurance Company and was quickly promoted to Audit Director of Nationwide. There she oversaw internal audit functions for global financial services, continuing her focus on building relationships with senior leadership teams and board members.

Karla is currently Senior Vice President & Chief Audit Executive for Lincoln Financial Group. Joining the firm in 2006 as Assistant Vice President & Audit Director, Karla demonstrated her capacity for leadership and brought together two internal audit departments to build a single, cohesive strategic unit.