Making Relationships Number One

After a multifaceted career as a Peace Corps Volunteer, travel writer, and international recruiter, Katherine moved back to her childhood home of Hawaiʻi to cofound the nonprofit, Honolulu Biennial Foundation (HBF; now called Hawaiʻi Contemporary), which she helped build to become Hawaii’s largest contemporary art festival. As the Executive Director of HBF, she was responsible for all daily operations of the nonprofit, including fundraising, financial oversight, recruiting and empowering a diverse staff, program monitoring and evaluation, and project management. Since 2020, she has consulted for nonprofits to develop sound financial practices, build, and strengthen their organizational structure, and create dynamic, long-term fundraising strategies. In her current role as Director, Client Services at Aperio Philanthropy, she works closely with executive directors, development teams and boards of nonprofits to grow their development programs with data-driven and relationship-based fundraising.