Karen Matthews - Keynote and Guest Speaker

Karen Matthews

Business reinvention specialist. Simple, no jargon, no BS

With over 25 years’ experience leading turnaround, change and growth, Karen Matthews is recognised in the market as a confident and innovative business advisor with strong operational and strategic experience.

She has led business turnaround strategies for several well-known brands including Ella Bache, Guess and Freedom Furniture and has won several awards over her career including Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year and PwC National Franchise Woman of the Year.

In 2016, Karen launched her own Advisory business leveraging her extensive experience to guide and support business leaders as they navigate the challenges of constant change, turnaround, and long-term growth. Karen knows that businesses who do not continue to innovate, reinvent, and embed this way of thinking into their business DNA, now more than ever, will quickly lose relevance.

She is a passionate advocate for her no BS approach to dynamic planning, centred around brand, leadership, and accountability and has recently written her first book - a step-by-step guide, aptly titled De-mystifying the road to change.

Karen is the former CEO of Ella Bache, and her last corporate role was with Freedom Furniture as Retail Director where she led their 50 stores and 1200 staff in all things retail.

Karen is well known for her refreshingly unique and pragmatic approach to change along with an inspirational and authentic leadership style.

Karen Matthews Book as a speaker/entertainer for your next event

Key Points for Karen Matthews

Karen Matthews has over 25 years experience in leading turnaround, change and growth across Retail, Wholesale and Franchising and summarises her career.
Is recognised in the market as a confident and innovative leader with strong operational and strategic experience.
Has won a number of awards over her career including 2004 Telstra NSW Business Woman of Year, 2005 PWC NSW Franchise Woman Year and 2007 PWC National Franchise Woman of Year.
Launched, Karen Matthews - Inspiring Change in 2016 teaching and supporting other businesses.

Topics for Karen Matthews

Kickstart
Top line exploratory audit & recommended way forward
Your business is flat. You know something needs to change but either can’t put your finger on what needs to happen first, are so caught up in the day to day management that you don’t have the time or headspace to think about it, or simply need help with the best way to approach your business transformation.
KM transformation
Demystifying the road to change
You can no longer tolerate the performance of your business and have decided to move forward with the necessary holistic changes to set it up for long term growth. You are excited and committed to moving forward and would like the comfort of experience and proven expertise to do this thoroughly and as soon as possible.
Mentoring and advisory
One-on-one mentoring and small group advisory
Change can be daunting and often lonely. As a leader driving change, the experience and wisdom of someone who has been in your shoes, is invaluable. Whether it is guidance, support, encouragement or a sounding board, one-on-one mentoring for you or any of your team Is a powerful little extra to keep you moving forward. Alternatively, executive advisory or small group support might be a great option for your leadership team or any other team within the business as they navigate change.
Masterclass
Collaborate. Connect. Share. Learn.
The reality is, most businesses and leaders experience very similar issues as they try to navigate change and growth, whilst managing the day to day churn. Why not be a part of one of our masterclass groups – an open and confidential space for sharing issues, bouncing ideas and learning from others?

A small group of individuals from non-competing businesses meet once a week for 6 weeks and experience not just the benefit of learning from others, but a change of environment and space to reflect. It is also extremely helpful and a great comfort to know that we are all in this together – tackling issues, solving problems, managing our staff and adapting and changing our businesses to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.

Testimonials for Karen Matthews

Karen is an incredibly enthusiastic, warm, and energetic speaker. She really impressed with her experience and ability to command the audience. We were especially appreciative of her engagement with our audience prior to the event, it really encouraged them up to engage with us during and after the session. Karen also made the process leading up to our event seamless through easy communication and ensuring our intentions and goals for this event were echoed in her talk. She was a great choice to kick off our Speaker Series.
Chadstone – The Fashion Capital