Team

Karen Simon, President

Karen Simon has 38 years of public involvement and planning experience. She began her career in planning as the Director of Planning and Transportation Programs for the Tampa Downtown Partnership and a Project Planner for Greiner, Inc. (now AECOM) before founding SRI in Tampa, Florida in 1996.  Karen expanded her business in 2004 with an office in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where she now solely operates and resides.

Karen has worked on a multitude of and variety of projects, including transit, roadway and bicycle/pedestrian planning, EPA-driven and local utility work, and ADA Assessments in Texas, Kentucky, Ohio and of course, North Carolina. Her work on the Salem Parkway Improvement Project (formerly Business 40) in Winston Salem was the Grand Prize winner in the 2021 America’s Transportation Awards competition. The project rose to the top out of 80 nominees from 35 state DOTs.  This project was also chosen by FHWA during the early planning phases as an example of “best practices” for Environmental Justice (EJ) in NEPA.

Ms. Simon holds a BS in Business Administration from Youngtown State University in Ohio and an MBA from the University of Tampa in Florida. Outside of her professional career, Karen enjoys spending time with her family and participating in outdoor activities such as biking, running, skiing and hiking, and a newfound love of pickleball! She is also very involved in the Salvation Army, as a current member and past Chair of the Advisory Board and volunteer tutor at the Center of Hope Family Shelter.