Karen Kelbly is the Chief Accountant in the National Credit Union Administration’s (NCUA) Office of Examination & Insurance (E&I), Division of Supervision, in Alexandria, VA. She has served functionally in this capacity since joining NCUA in April 1986. She has also served in the E&I Department of Risk Management and the Division of Operations. As NCUA’ s Chief Accountant, Karen is responsible for advising the Board and agency management on technical accounting and auditing matters pertinent to the credit union industry. In this role, she conducts accounting, auditing and other research tasks for consideration by NCUA executive staff, and provides accounting guidance to NCUA regional offices and the examiner staff. Additionally, she serves as the agency's liaison to the Federal Financial Institutions’ Examination Council (FFIEC) on accounting and auditing matters, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) Financial Institutions’ Expert Panel (FIEP) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Karen serves on the steering committees of two annual accounting conferences: the Interagency Accounting Conference sponsored by the four federal financial institution regulatory agencies, and the AICPA’s Credit Unions’ Conference. E&I is the Office of Primary Interest in overseeing the accounting and auditing subject matter examiners and Karen takes the lead in planning, organizing, and conducting annual accounting and auditing training for RIC subject matter examiners nationwide. Karen is a graduate of both the George Washington University and the Elizabethtown College where she received a Masters of Accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree, respectively. She is a graduate of the “Council for Excellence in Government, Executive Fellows Program.” Prior to joining NCUA, Karen worked eight years for the General Services Administration's Office of Inspector General in the roles of internal auditor, construction contract auditor, and inspector general staff conducting peer reviews of regional offices of inspector general.
NCUA is the independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress to regulate, charter and supervise federal credit unions. With the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, NCUA operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the deposits of nearly 94 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.