Karen A. Winn
Karen A. Winn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, cum laude, from Princeton University in 1978. Upon graduation, she taught history at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, and then earned a Master of Arts in history from Washington University in 1982.
After teaching again, Commissioner Winn returned to law school and graduated from Washington University School of Law in 1987. She served as Associate Editor of the Washington University Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Winn engaged in private practice in St. Louis from 1987 through 1991, first at Lewis, Rice and Fingersh; then at Peper, Martin, Jensen, Maichel &Hetlage. Upon relocating to Jefferson City, she became Assistant Counsel at the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission in 1992. In 1993, she became General Counsel for the Office of Administration, a position in which she served for seven years.
In 2000, Governor Mel Carnahan appointed Winn to the Administrative Hearing Commission. She served a full six year term at the Commission, then accepted a position as an Assistant Attorney General under former Attorney General Jay Nixon, where she remained until January 2009.
In January 2009 Winn became General Counsel for the Department of Economic Development in the new administration of Governor Nixon. She served in that capacity until Governor Nixon appointed her to another term at the Administrative Hearing Commission, and she was confirmed by the Senate for that post, in May 2010. Winn is the first person to have been appointed to two non-consecutive terms at the Commission.
Winn has spoken at numerous continuing legal education programs. She is an active member of Grace Episcopal Church, where she sings in the choir, is serving her third term on the vestry, and has served on numerous other committees. Winn has been a mentor for elementary age children at South School through the YMCA, was active in Boy Scout Troop 10 of Jefferson City, and previously served as a board member for the Jefferson City Boys Choir. She served on the Board of the Washington University Institute of Law and Interdisciplinary Studies from 2001 until 2010. She was the State of Missouri Employee of the Month in February 1995 and received an award as a Disability Rights Advocate in 1996 and as a "Friend of the Judiciary" in 2000.