Karen Tighe

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ABC TV sports presenter, broadcaster, MC/facilitator

Karen has been a regular face and voice of ABC TV and radio sport since joining the ABC in 1989.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Karen spent eight years as a TV sports broadcaster and presenter, anchoring golf, tennis and other major sporting broadcasts on the ABC network.

In 1997, she made the move to ABC Radio as the presenter of the weekend national sports program ‘Summer Grandstand’ – a role she still enjoys from her adopted home town of Perth.

Karen co-hosted ABC Radio’s cover of the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, Kuala Lumpur and Manchester Commonwealth Games and has hosted six Paralympic Games (Lillehammer, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Beijing and London) with ABC TV.

She was part of the Friday night fun of ‘Live & Sweaty’ on ABC TV in the early nineties and for six years presented sport on ABC TV’s weeknight news in Perth.

Karen was also the regular host of ABC TV’s annual coverage of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament from 1994 to 2010.

She was the Media Award Winner at the 2000 and 2001 Australian Sports Awards and in 2020 Karen received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Australia Media Awards in Sydney.

Karen is married to former ABC sports commentator Glenn Mitchell and is mother of thirteen year old James.

Karen’s polished communication skills, professionalism and engaging personality have made her one of Perth’s most requested masters of ceremonies. She has hosted many major conferences, awards, seminars and forums including Australian Tourism Awards, WA Tourism Awards, UDIA National Conference (twice), AMA (Australian Medical Association) Conference and Awards, WA Industry & Export Awards, Chamber of Commerce & Industry of WA Resource Conference (twice), Local Government Professionals Australia WA State Conference, Corporate PA Summit in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, Pharmacy Guild WA Forum, WA Rural Health Awards, Core21 Conference, AMEC (Association of Mining & Exploration Companies) Awards, WA Primary Principals Conference and many others.

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Accolades from previous speaking engagements

  • “Karen was an outstanding MC for the Best on Earth in Perth’ launch. We received many comments on her polished performance.”

    Paula Wallace. PR Manager, Eventscorp

  • “Excellent MC. Karen is very professional and kept the evening moving extremely well which was vital as there were 31 awards to present. Based on her excellent performance at the W.A. Awards we subsequently booked Karen to host the Australian Tourism Awards.”

    Pat Strahan. Strahan Consultants. W.A. Tourism Awards

  • “We have received many unsolicited compliments from delegates, some of whom described it as the best conference they had attended, and ‘whose wonderful idea was Karen Tighe’. Karen’s amazing stage presence, audience control and professional approach to the four day event made my life a dream.”

    Judy Carr. Executive Director. UDIA National Congress

  • “Karen’s natural warmth and ease brings a wonderful tone at the C2030 Conference. She is interested in what’s going on and chats easily to everyone. On top of that, she was so helpful and offered herself up to support others during the conference. We LOVE Karen and would
    not hesitate to recommend her to anyone who is interested in securing the best MC they would ever hope to find. Her ability to read the room and be smart enough to capture the moment takes her performance to another level and best of all, her time management is a
    real strength. She was able to pull people back as required.”

    Sue Smith, Communications Manager, Landcorp

  • “Karen is very professional and her approachable style makes it a pleasure to work with her. She was well organised and many of our conference delegates commented on the great job Karen did on the day. Excellent performance.”

    Jim Hodges. Manager, Risk Management Services. Riskcover. Government Risk Management Conference

  • “Karen’s considerable experience as an MC for this type of work was invaluable – she offered opinions when there were quick changes and was able to adapt very easily. She has a very warm approach and her excellent speaking voice was much appreciated by the audience. Excellent performance.”

    Roseanne Humphreys Statewide Speech & Language Service Conference Department of Education & Training