Karen Schuler

Karen is a BDO Principal and leads the firm’s Global Privacy, Data & AI Governance practice. With more than 30 years of experience, she has built and led organizations delivering investigative, data protection, privacy, and governance services and technology-enabled solutions. Karen has testified in depositions, arbitrations, and federal, state, and local courts throughout the U.S., and she assists clients in responding to and negotiating privacy, security, and data protection matters. She has investigated and supported some of the world’s largest data breaches and security incidents and has evaluated organizational compliance with national security requirements.

Karen currently serves as Data Protection Officer (DPO) for Global 100 and other high-profile global organizations across multiple industries. In this capacity, she works closely with clients, counsel, and Data Protection Authorities to address inquiries, investigations, and complaints. Her BDO team developed one of the first privacy managed services offerings—Data Protection Managed Services—a full-service outsourced privacy program for Global 1000 companies. The team also founded the BDO Data Protection Academy, which trains privacy, legal, security, and technology professionals in more than 100 countries.

Under Karen’s leadership, the team advises Global 500 organizations on embedding privacy and data protection into product, service, and technology design from the outset. The team also investigates data leaks and the mishandling of personal information, manages 24x7 data subject request contact centers, and implements and administers a broad range of privacy technologies.

As the founder of one of the first digital forensics consulting firms in the 1990s, Karen became a recognized thought leader and testifying expert in digital forensics and e-discovery, with experience investigating theft of trade secrets, intellectual property matters, and white-collar crime. Prior to joining BDO, she held senior consulting and board roles and served as a Senior Forensic Examiner for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she investigated significant data breaches affecting millions of consumers.