Karen Spencer
Consultant, Auditor and Trainer
Karen Spencer is a SimpleQuE consultant, with more than 30 years of experience in the areas of AS 9100, ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications. Twenty of those years were with a Tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry and 10 years in aviation. In addition, she has performed hundreds of audits internally and externally for a wide variety of industries and is a lead auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100 and ISO 45001.
Work Experience
ISO / Quality Management Systems
Since 2006 Karen has utilized her Quality expertise as a consultant and business partner at GK Quality 1st / Greg Spencer Inc. Her manufacturing background includes positions as Quality Manager and Quality Engineer; creating Quality systems, Supplier Auditing and Approval systems, and Calibration systems. She also introduced scrap reduction techniques and is adept at problem solving and improving production processes.
Automotive
Karen began her career as a quality engineer at MALCO, Inc. where she was a member of the QS 9000 team that developed and implemented the manual, procedures and work instruction. She performed internal audits and oversaw laboratory testing to GM, Ford, Chrysler and Japanese standards. She also assisted subcontractors with problem solving techniques and PPAP requirements, and in addition, audited and tracked subcontractor performance for Textron Fastening Systems, Automotive Division as Quality Assurance and Metrology Manager. At Semblex Corporation, Karen expanded to ISO/TS 16949, ISO 17025 and ISO 14001 internal audits, also auditing, developing and monitoring suppliers. Her automotive experience includes heat treat and plating techniques.
Aerospace
Presently Karen conducts training, auditing and consulting for simpleQuE in the AS9100 series of standards, including AS9110 and AS9120. Recently Karen was responsible for the ISO and AS9100 Quality Management System at M2M Group as Director of Quality & Continuous Improvement and Safety. She was the Designated Quality Representative for UTAS and certified for SAE AS13001 (Aerospace Supplier Quality Self Release). Karen was responsible for implementing and maintaining the AS9100 Quality Operating System at Skandia Inc., where she also ensured compliance with FAA rules and regulations as the FAA point of contact. She was certified to perform FAA conformity inspections for Bombardier. In her role as Aviation Quality Assurance Manager, she implemented problem solving technology and a cost of quality program.
Certificates and Training
- ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor
- ISO 9001 and AS9100 Internal Auditor Train the Trainer
- ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor
- AS9100:2016 IAQG sanctioned Aerospace Auditor Transition Training
- AS9100:2016, AS9110:2016, AS9120:2016 and ASA-100 Training
- ASQ Certified Quality Auditor #64462
- SAE 13001 Certified, Aerospace Supplier Quality
- ISO 19011:2018 Training
“Kudos to Karen and Greg for a value-added audit this week at our Dayton Facility. They thoroughly audited to 4 standards and found many areas that need to be addressed prior to our 3rd party audits. They displayed both professionalism and industry/standards expertise while utilizing well-developed audit and people skills to drive down to objective evidence.” – Chad Bryan, Allied Motion
Education
Karen received her Bachelor of Business Management degree from Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI. Her continued educational endeavors include classes in Management, Quality, Continuous Improvement, and Engineering.
