Kate Catherall is a Senior Consultant at GHV and works with the Gender Equity Team. She supports our partnership with Pivotal Ventures. Kate is passionate about building capacity for social impact and brings 16+ years of leadership experience in advocacy, public engagement, and electoral politics.
Kate has trained and worked with movement-builders and campaigners across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, with partners hailing from more than 40 countries. As a consultant and researcher, she has guided strategy and advocacy efforts across a wide range of issues including reproductive freedom, clean energy, gun violence prevention, education reform, public health, and international conflict resolution.
Previously, Kate served as Chief Engagement Officer at Avalanche Insights, a research and strategy firm. She is the Co-founder, Board Chair, and formerly Senior Partner of Arena, an organization that convenes, trains, and supports next generation candidates and political professionals. Since 2017, Arena has helped to elect 61 candidates to Congress, state, and local offices, and has trained more than 8,000 campaigners through Arena Academy. Prior to founding Arena, Kate was a Senior Vice President at 270 Strategies and got her start as an organizer on Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Kate holds a B.A. in Political Science and Theatre and Drama from Indiana University. She has worked on five continents, speaks conversational Spanish and Swahili, and spent time in East Africa early in her career. Kate resides in Oakland, California with her partner Conrad and their retriever mix, Louie.
When she's not working, Kate spends as much time outside as possible. She loves film, music, writing, travel, forest bathing, and pizza.
Areas of Expertise:
- Campaigns, advocacy, and movement-building
- Message and narrative development
- Survey and behavioral research
- Facilitation, coaching, and training
- Executive leadership and management