Karen Gately

With years of professional experience in HR and human performance, Karen Gately is the deeply respected consultant helping industry leaders build talented teams. She is a passionate optimist who has been championing the power of the human spirit across the professional sector.

At just 14, Karen was the youngest person in Shukokai Karate to be awarded a 1st dan black belt. With her passion and unmatched dedication, Karen went on to be graded to 3rd dan after many more years of training and teaching. She is a highly accomplished tournament karate competitor with multiple state, national and international titles.

Karen draws on over 25 years in the dojo to lead teams to achieve their fullest potential, working in client service, strategy and planning, as well as quality management leadership roles. She was the Head of Human Resources for the Asia Pacific region in The Vanguard Group for eight years, before founding her own HR consultancy company in Melbourne. Through Corporate Dojo, Karen continues to work with different organisations to build talented and passionate teams. 

Karen is a published author with two books: ‘The People Manager’s Toolkit: A practical guide to getting the best from people’ and ‘The Corporate Dojo: driving extraordinary results through spirited people.’ She has also hosted her own weekly radio breakfast segment with Power FM South Australia.

She continues to share her expertise as a prolific contributor for a range of Australian publications, including The CEO Magazine, AFR, HR Director Magazines, and The Australian, as well as a guest expert on broadcast media like The Today Show, Sky Business News, ABC Radio and 2GB.

With decades of people management experience, Karen Gately has been helping organisations reach their full potential by building high achieving teams across any industry.