Karen Porter

Karen Porter has worked at SRPEDD since 2000. Starting her career at SRPEDD managing the traffic count program within the Transportation department. She has also been responsible for intersection safety studies, signal warrant analyses and reports, and pavement management.

Presently, Karen manages SRPEDD’s Information Technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), performing in its capacity as the Regional GIS Service Center for southeastern Massachusetts, and is SRPEDD’s IT Manager.

As the IT manager, Karen is responsible for overseeing the operation and maintenance of the agency’s network. This includes identifying and solving computer issues, upgrading desktop applications and hardware, and addressing employee technology concerns. She manages and supports SRPEDD’s internal and external servers and other related IT infrastructure.

Karen has extensive experience working with GIS data from national, state, local, and private sources. She works alongside agencies such as MassGIS, The Nature Conservancy, and the Buzzards Bay Coalition to gather, analyze, and generate integral GIS data. Karen collaborates with municipal, private and state agencies maintaining datasets, producing community and regional maps, and completing various publications and displays. She has facilitated all types of planning documents: Master Plans, Open Space Plans, Housing Production Plans, Taunton River Stewardship Plan, Economic Development Plans, Transportation Plans, and public outreach documents.

Karen’s experience as a teacher of building techniques and her work as an assistant to SRPEDD’s Geographic Roadway Runoff Inventory Program (GRIPP), including related flood and sea level rise field work within the region, give her invaluable insight on the built and natural environments.