City Budget
Karen Rhodes-Whitley, is currently the Director of Budget & Research for the
City of Plano, Texas, and has over 35 years of financial budgeting experience.
She has been with the City of Plano for 30 years, 22 of which she has served as
the Budget Director. In addition to her Budget duties, she is currently the
Program Co-Chair for GFOAT and is a on the CORBA Committee with GFOA.
She is also Past-President of the Government Financial Officers Association of
Texas and past member of the Economic Development and Capital Planning
Committee and Budget Committee for the National Government Financial
Officers Association plus is a Budget Reviewer. Karen holds a BBA from the
University of Texas at Austin and an MPA from the University of Texas at Dallas.
She is also a Certified Public Manager and a Registered Tax Assessor/Collector.
She also serves as an Associate Director of the Institute of Public Finance
Certificate Program through Texas Tech University. She has been a speaker on
various budget and capital project topics at GFOA, GFOAT, TML and ICMA
Conferences. In November 2014, she received the 2014 Outstanding Service
Award from the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas.