Karen Abramson

Karen Abramson is the CEO of the Corporate Performance & ESG Division of Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, governance, risk & compliance, and legal & regulatory sectors. Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn. Wolters Kluwer reported 2022 annual revenues of €5.5 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,900 people.

As CEO of the newly created Corporate Performance and ESG division, Karen leads the unification of four global software businesses that are dedicated to transforming the landscape of corporate performance management, environmental health and safety (EHS), and risk.

By synergizing the strengths of these entities, Wolters Kluwer paves the way for a world where data is harnessed to fuel corporate responsibility, enhance workplace safety, foster global sustainability, facilitate commerce, and streamline regulatory compliance. The result? A world that's not just safer and healthier, but also more prosperous and resilient.

For Karen, innovation is at her core as a leader. She believes passionately that forward-thinking C-suite leaders need to move quickly to lay the groundwork for the digital transformation of their ESG reporting, and move from consumption reduction to improving products and processes in order to achieve real, sustainable, permanent advantage going forward.

She also believes that with focused innovation, a company can retain and attract talented employees, improve the customer experience, and deliver strong financial results. She continues to build a global vision, a strong strategy driven by customer insights, and the processes to drive execution. Abramson recognizes that employees who work side-by-side with customers daily are uniquely positioned to identify customer challenges and find innovative solutions. Karen’s perspective on innovation and leadership has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, and Chief Executive.

Previously at Wolters Kluwer, she served as CEO of the Tax & Accounting division, President & CEO of the Medical Research business unit, and General Manager of the Corsearch business unit. Abramson is a past Executive Board Member of the American Association of Publishers and has served as a member of the European Executive Council for Outsell. For six years, she has been named one of the most powerful women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor, and she has also been named multiple times to the Top 100 Most Influential in Accounting list. In 2019, she was named CEO of the year by the SIIA (Software Information Industry of America) in recognition of her leadership in launching award-winning products and driving technology & innovation across Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Additionally, she was recognized as Female Executive of the Year with the 2021 Silver Stevie® Award for Women in Business and a 2022 Silver Globee in the Woman Excellence of the Year in Accounting and Finance.