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Karen Shepherd was born in Silver City, New Mexico, on 5 July 1940, to LaVerna and Ralph Felker. Felker's job with the U. S. Department of Agriculture required frequent moves, and Karen and her younger brother, Gary were educated in a variety of schools in small towns in Utah. Shepherd received a B.A. in English from the University of Utah in 1962 and was awarded an M.A. in British Literature at Brigham Young University the following year. Shepherd taught high school and college English in Utah, in Washington, and at the American University of Cairo. In 1974, Shepherd served as Utah County coordinator for the Wayne Owens for Senate Campaign. She was affiliated with the Salt Lake County Division of Social Services in the mid-1970s, serving first as assistant to the director and then as director. In 1978 Shepherd became director of continuing education for Westminster College. That year also saw the debut of Network magazine, a publication designed for women moving away from traditional home-centered roles. Shepherd was editor of Network and president of Webster Publishing for ten years. In 1988, she was appointed director of development and community relations for the Graduate School of Business and College of Business at the University of Utah. In 1992, Shepherd defeated Republican Enid Greene for the 2nd district congressional seat on a platform that stressed children's issues, fiscal responsibility, deficit reduction, and congressional reform. Following her defeat by Greene in 1994, Shepherd taught at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. After serving as an election monitor on the West Bank and Gaza, she joined former President Jimmy Carter and an international delegation in monitoring the January 1996 election in that area. She was appointed as U.S. Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1996.