A former broadcast journalist with more than 28 years’ public relations experience in New Zealand, the United States and South Africa, Kate brings strong finance and corporate public relations skills to the marketplace, propelled by her trademark media savvy. She has been recognised globally for her work in the area of crisis communications and issue management and founded her own PR business in New Zealand in 2005.
Kate has handled the communications for many prominent projects, from IPOs to receiverships, such as the South Canterbury Finance receivership, and has managed the New Zealand-facing crises of a number of multinational companies. On the corporate and consumer side, she has led complex and award-winning campaigns on behalf of financial and fiduciary services, retail, manufacturing and not- for-profit organisations, among others.
Kate was national director of STWS Communications when it was Africa’s largest PR consultancy, and has worked for several large listed companies in New Zealand and Africa and on landmark projects such as the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994 and the launch of the country’s first McDonald’s. She is accustomed to engaging with high-profile leaders in business and politics, having worked on projects led by the late President Nelson Mandela and with subsidiaries of Anglo American.
Kate is a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International. She has served as a judge for the Workplace Savings NZ Communication Awards (2013 to 2015).