USA Funds Staff Profile: Helping Schools, Lenders, Collection Agencies Stay in Compliance

Karen Reese loves to travel and meet new people, which makes her a perfect fit for the USA Funds^® job she’s held nearly 15 years. As a compliance specialist, she travels to schools and lending institutions to review their Federal Family Education Loan Program activities.

Reese is one of USA Funds’ team of three compliance specialists who regularly perform the required reviews to ensure that schools and lenders are meeting all federal requirements and guarantor policies in administering the FFELP.

Reese also conducts audits of collection agencies to ensure that their activities are in accordance with federal regulations and USA Funds policies.

“I love my job,” Reese says. “I get to meet so many new people.”

Reese joined USA Funds in 1988, serving in its post-claim-assistance unit. In 1992 she became a compliance specialist, focusing primarily on helping schools, lenders and collection agencies to stay on top of FFELP and USA Funds requirements.

“It really is a customer service,” Reese says. “We help them make sure they’re aware of regulations and in compliance, and let them know if they’re off track.”

Reese says her job also requires plenty of reading; she frequently reviews the Common Manual and announcements about policy and regulatory changes to ensure that she has the latest information when conducting reviews. She also gleans policy and regulatory information from conferences in the financial-aid community.

Reese’s responsibilities keep her on the road up to 70 percent of the time. She admits that she has a few travel horror stories, from losing her luggage to spending the night in an airport. “But I like the travel,” Reese says. “It’s like a whole new job everywhere I visit.”

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on management, from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Mo., where she played guard on the women’s basketball team that earned the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division-II national championship in 1984. The team earned Division-II Final Four berths three of the four years that Reese was a member.