Karen Bray is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Burns & McDonnell’s South Central Region, overseeing nearly 900 employees across Houston, Austin, and San Antonio offices. Her leadership spans a diverse range of energy-focused projects, including oil & gas, chemicals, power production and storage, high-voltage transmission, permitting, consulting and construction. Karen is a strategic and results-driven leader, known for fostering collaborative teams and delivering client-focused solutions. She thrives in problem-solving environments, stating “Working with people and teams is my passion—I love solving puzzles to create superior outcomes.”

Karen’s 22-year career at Burns & McDonnell is a testament to upward mobility and continuous impact. She began as a process engineer, gaining hands-on experience at refining projects across Louisiana, Texas, and Pennsylvania. She played a key role in a 50,000 BPD hydrocracker conversion project in Philadelphia, named Burns & McDonnell’s “Project of the Year” in 2009. She later transitioned into department management, where she focused on mentoring junior engineers, staffing major projects and optimizing day-to-day operations.

In 2011, Karen took on a Business Development leadership role, spearheading the firm’s midstream market expansion. Her ability to secure and retain repeat clients led to major engineering and construction contracts for gas processing plants. Recognizing her success, she was entrusted with further developing the chemicals market and became the Director of Chemicals. Under her leadership, Burns & McDonnell secured the largest contract in company history, expanding its chemicals portfolio and industry presence.

Karen’s executive leadership journey began in 2021, when she became an officer of the firm, leading front-end project development and all process engineering for the Oil, Gas & Chemicals (OGC) group. She then advanced to Houston Operations Director for OGC, managing a team of 300 engineers across multiple disciplines before assuming her current role as SVP and General Manager of the South Central Region.

Beyond her corporate leadership, Karen is deeply involved in industry advancement and mentorship. Currently, Karen is an engaged member of the Executive Women’s Partnership through the Greater Houston Partnership. In this role, she is advancing the collective success of women executives with meaningful connections, promoting leadership development, and building a strong, supportive network that uplifts women across the Houston’s business community. She served on the Board of Directors (2021-2023) for the Engineering and Construction Contracting (ECC) Association, an organization dedicated to promoting leadership in capital project delivery. She is also a graduate of the ECC Future Leaders Program (2012-2014) and now serves on its Executive Advisory Committee. Her professional excellence has been recognized by Ingram’s “40 Under 40” and ENR Midwest’s “Top Young Professionals.”

Karen holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas and is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Kansas. She and her husband Dave have two sons, Jerod and Nathan, and enjoy family vacations, skiing, fishing, and hosting gatherings with friends and family.