Karen Boudreau-Shea

Roles and Responsibilities

Karen Boudreau-Shea serves as Vice President, Negotiation Services at The Tambellini Group, where she leads and expands the firm’s negotiation and advisory offerings for higher education and SLED (State, Local, Education) clients. In this role, Karen partners with institutional executives and procurement leaders to ensure technology and service contracts reflect institutional priorities, deliver optimal value, and mitigate risk throughout the procurement and negotiation lifecycle.

Professional Background

Karen brings more than 28 years of strategic business, operations, and technology leadership to her work, with deep expertise in aligning administrative and academic technology investments to broader institutional goals. She combines a disciplined, enterprise-wide perspective on technology strategy with practical experience in contract negotiation, vendor engagement, and operational transformation.

Before her current role, Karen served as Vice President of Advisory Services at Tambellini. She partnered with institutions to align technology enablement strategies with academic and administrative systems, streamline operations, and drive organizational transformation backed by solid financial and operational planning.

Before joining Tambellini, Karen was Senior Director of Assessment and Optimization at CampusWorks, Inc., leading efforts to improve institutional technology operations across the student lifecycle. She also served for more than a decade as Chief Information Officer at Lesley University, where she shaped technology strategy and delivery to support institutional mission and student success.

Karen’s approach to negotiation and advisory services emphasizes strategic alignment, proactive risk management, and full engagement with institutional leadership. Her work helps presidents, CFOs, COOs, CIOs, and procurement teams assess contracts holistically, optimize terms and pricing, and secure agreements that deliver both operational effectiveness and financial stewardship.

Education & Certifications 

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP)
• BA, Accounting, University of Massachusetts, Amherst