Professional Experience
An award-winning expert in her field, Karen McCallum is a Senior Director and practice lead for CBRE’s design practice in Atlanta, Georgia. With over 16 years of experience, she has a keen understanding of how design influences organizations and the crucial initial steps involved in visioning sessions, programming, and analysis. Karen sees each project as an opportunity to provide clients with creative solutions unique to their requirements and reflective of their brand or culture. The success of this “best practice” approach can be seen in her completed projects across a variety of market sectors from corporate to hospitality and from higher education to healthcare.
A natural leader and champion for passionate design, Karen serves as a collaborative partner within CBRE’s Space Enablement services. The culture of her team is one of design excellence, dedication to each other, and exceptional service – all of which is consistently reflected by Karen herself. Her collaborative nature and years of expertise results in thoughtful design solutions that make each client feel truly heard. Karen is passionate about going beyond furniture and finishes to get to the heart of a client’s needs. In her time with the company, she has brought home over 21 awards for design excellence from both industry associations and her peers.
Karen McCallum joined CBRE Design, previously Heery International, directly after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Design from the University of Florida in 2004. As a young Designer, Karen learned how trust her instincts, create thoughtful design, and know when to go back to the drawing board. As she grew in her career, she honed her collaborative leadership style, trusting that all designers should have a voice, no matter their years of experience. Over her 16 years of design, Karen has managed many unique projects, with focus in workplace design, higher education, and hospitality. Her range of expertise has proven invaluable in her day to day as Practice Lead in the Southeast.