KATE S. ALEXANDER

• Founded strategic advisory firm providing executive political communications and advocacy strategy for candidates, CEOs, founders, and governing boards.
• Counsel leaders on messaging architecture, audience alignment, and stakeholder engagement; audit existing systems to design and build master communications and advocacy roadmaps; and guide clients through crisis communications, media relations, and organizational positioning without the full-time overhead.

• Directed and coached award-winning Debate and Forensics team, managing $25,000 budget and fundraising, and hosting intercollegiate tournament competition.
• Instructed students in political communication and debate techniques.
• Instructed Shepherd University students in assigned course content and classroom discussions.
• Developed syllabi, lesson plans, and course materials aligned with university standards.
• Assessed student assignments, exams, and projects using clear grading rubrics.

• Promoted twice in under four years, expanding a one-person communications operation into a three-person department; hired and coached staff, managed creative vendors, expanded bilingual Spanish communications and served on senior leadership team.
• Led strategic communications as governance shifted from one CEO to five co-equal executive partners; crafted mission-based public narrative and strengthened internal communications and cross-functional collaboration.
• Directed digital and brand strategy: rebuilt website from zero inbound prospects to more than 70% of new consulting client leads; sustained 50%+ newsletter open rates and increased LinkedIn engagement more than 1,000% year-over-year.
• Led media relations securing 30+ earned mentions annually; created Catholic Leaders Podcast (~500 downloads per episode) and Renewals blog shaping national thought leadership; co-created the biennial Catholic Partnership Summit, which drew 250+ top Catholic leaders and shaped national conversations on critical issues like abuse, financial management, and young adult leadership.
• Authored proposal narrative behind largest-ever single grant, $2 million from Lilly Endowment; partnered with executive leadership on communications, organizational strategy and high-stakes messaging.

• Developed advocacy strategy that grew constituent action tenfold to 10,000+ messages in one legislative cycle; organized a virtual Day of Action with 700+ advocates and 1,250 actions.
• Centered Laura Wallen's story in campaign for Laura and Reid's Law, building a coalition and generating 10,500+ petition signatures ahead of unanimous passage in 2019.
• Led statewide external affairs and advocacy efforts, managing narrative strategy, crisis communications, media relations, and grassroots engagement to enhance public support and stakeholder collaboration.
• Directed communications following 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse
• Rebranded Catholics in Annapolis and reframed the event around stories of people affected by policy, more than doubling year-over-year attendance.
• Developed advocacy and crisis-response systems that were adopted by other Catholic conferences as national models.
• Served as Acting Director from August to December 2018
• Held the position of Associate Director of Advocacy and Outreach from January 2017 to 2018

• Served on firm's senior leadership team directing all client communications, external affairs, media relations, and narrative strategy for firm and its clients.
• Acted as primary spokesperson, addressing media inquiries and representing firm in public forums.
• Secured neighborhood and policymaker support for $120 million smart-infill development proposal within 60 days using a targeted messaging and engagement campaign, facilitating project approval.
• Revived stalled $100 million redevelopment proposal through in-person community conversations and a short film showcasing multi-generational family's connection to business property, overcoming organized public opposition.

I spent three and a half years as the senior politics reporter at The Gazette of Politics & Business, a publication of The Washington Post Companies, covering the Maryland General Assembly and Montgomery County Council. I became a mentor to emerging reporters in the newsroom, and established a deep bench of relationships among legislators, advocates, lobbyists, and staffers in Annapolis.

• Coached reporters early in their careers, several of whom moved on to national newsrooms.
• Moderated debates and forums for candidates running for Congress, the state house, and local office.
• Became a reporter regional TV producers called for context on breaking political news.

I spent four years on covering local politics at The Herald-Mail, focusing on Hagerstown city government and a long list of small governments across the tri-state region. I learned multimedia storytelling firsthand during those years, shooting video and cutting audio instead of only filing text, a skill set that still shapes how I approach content today. Utilized live tweeting when Twitter was an emerging storytelling platform.

• Owned the Hagerstown political beat, setting coverage priorities for the city and a dozen-plus smaller governments nearby
• Picked up a camera and an audio recorder alongside a notebook, producing video packages and audio clips for daily coverage
• Built segments for the outlet's daily news roundup, an early, hands-on grounding in multimedia storytelling

• Traveled door-to-door in assigned communities during the 2010 Census, executing follow up visits to houses to resolve survey issues or obtain additional information by clearly explaining the process and purpose.
• Assisted people in filling out surveys with complete and accurate information.

Covered Boulder City and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police for a local division of the Las Vegas Sun.

• Wrote and submitted accurate, engaging, and fact-checked stories.
• Developed and maintained network of contacts to facilitate story development.
• Collaborated with other journalists and departments to produce well-rounded and comprehensive news coverage.

• Supported the management of radiologic films and records for the hospital's radiology department.
• Helped edit and design the monthly department newsletter.
• Supported digitization of films.

• Collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to identify key messages and create compelling content for press releases and other materials.
• Studied objectives, promotional policies or needs of the schools within the district to support public relations strategies.
• Supported the department with graphic design.
• Led the redesign of the department's internal website and content.

Covered local politics across southern Pennsylvania and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia including about a dozen local governmental bodies including school boards. Worked remotely in the Tri-State bureau filing daily stories for publication in the twice-daily newspaper.

• Owned the Tri-state political beat, setting coverage priorities for a dozen-plus smaller governments and school boards
• Covered weekend events for the entire region.

• Researched and produced daily news reports.