Kate Byrne

Blogger, Brainstormer, Business leader, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Connector, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Finance professional, Global soul, Idea generator, Journalist, Life mentor, Marketer, Parent, Sales specialist, Social entrepreneur, World traveler, Writer/Editor

I make things grow. Teams, organizations, profits. I am an experienced, strategic leader who wants to make a positive and meaningful difference in the world. I have a reputation for bringing together passion and creativity to come up with effective solutions in leading companies in both private and public sectors. A catalytic converter of sorts, I’ve built a reputation throughout my career for being the rare bird who has leadership acumen, creativity and execution abilities and the skill of getting others to join along, be they company employees, partners or customers. I am a beloved senior leader and gifted marketer, with a track record for taking teams and organizations to scale through lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships. To every team, I bring a solid intellect, a passionate, creative mind, the ability to build enduring relationships internally and externally, the social acumen, collaborative nature and sense of humor to work extremely well with others. Movement Building and Strategic Leadership I’m bi-lingual (in the working language sense)– I have successfully held senior leadership positions in both private and public sectors, at both blue chip brands and scrappy start-ups (Fast Company, BusinessWeek, George Lucas Educational Foundation, Tides and others). I am deftly able to speak from both for-profit and non-profit vantage points, translating the benefits of the pro bono practice to all involved, helping the organizations I am leading to grow stronger (and more profitable where appropriate) as a result. I am familiar with “pro bono time” and can channel the energy, moving it from potential frustration to effective creative execution. I have a gift for scale –I am successful in building strategic plans, taking ideas, operationalizing them, and working together with my team, blasting them to scale. I have done this at BusinessWeek when launching its small business edition, at the George Lucas Educational Foundation in taking its then nice, quiet little magazine, Edutopia, bringing it into the digital Age and raising its profile, and most recently breathing new life into a beloved older brand like Tides, helping it find new relevance in a crowded, competitive field, through the creation of Momentum, a multi-media sector and educational platform. organizations. Strategic Relationship Building and Fundraising I ask for the order and make it rain– My entire career has been built on asking for the order – be it building the first ever $5 million fundraising campaign for Tides, successfully broadening the donor pools for organizations such as Concord Consortium and WorldPulse or a financial commitment for advertising that resulted in netting $12M. I build creative partnerships such as the program I put together while at Tides with Tribeca, Half the Sky, Games for Change, 10X10 and Facebook (Facebook even donated the use of their space) Organizational Development and Operational Excellence I possess a sense of humor, a “thing” for making things better and tireless energy – I have worked bi-coastally from the start, resulting in contacts that span the nation (and into other countries), and I have the sense of humor required to deal with all of that travel, and the nuances of different cultures. Through my work at Tides on product development and creating new interdepartmental systems, I have developed a keen eye for how to streamline operations, an appreciation of which tasks need to be technologized versus those requiring a human touch.. Leadership and Talent Development I believe – And because I believe, I am able to both attract and retain incredible talent. During the sale of Fast Company, I achieved 100% staff retention – unheard of. More recently at Tides I was able to take a fledgling ragtag team of 3 departments and build it into a money making machine. My teams build amazing products and achieve incredible results, such as the first app my team built at Future US, that went on to win a coveted Apple Rewind award and an AdAge Vanguard award, and at Tides gaining access to new partners, clients and revenue. I walk the talk - I am active in the women’s empowerment space as well as the impact investing space, building out the women’s program at Tides, creating platforms for women to be recognized while at Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Future, mentoring women’s start ups such as the Levo League. I currently serve on the boards of Global Girl Media, The Center for Partnership Studies, The Concord Consortium, Exceptional Women in Publishing, three of the four devoted to women’s empowerment.

Women, Social change and stakeholder capitalism, conscious business girls leadership

There are 5 forms of capital - reputational, social, financial, intellectual and political. We each have access to all 5 but in different degree; hence the need for collaboration. Now is the time for us to come together and activate these capital pools and drive the change at scale that the world needs to realize.

digital media, events, leadership, Leadership Development, marketing, media, Power, Social Impact, story-telling, strategic planning, women and girls