Katherine supports and provides leadership for the Strategic Initiatives team, assisting with coordination and collaboration across the team and organization to ensure that the work of the team is aligned with accomplishing Rippel’s strategic roadmap while centering organizational values and advancing equitable approaches. She also continues to promote and present on Beyond the Grant: A Sustainable Financing Workbook (published in 2018).

Katherine previously worked on multiple sustainable financing and R&D projects for Rippel’s ReThink Health initiative, where she explored topics like social impact investing, resident engagement, and the potential of tax credits as a source of sustainable financing for population health. Notably, she co-authored Beyond the Grant: A Sustainable Financing Workbook. Katherine led the design of the workbook’s Financing Wizard that lets users create and practice the art of financial planning for their collaborative population health work. Before joining Rippel, Katherine coordinated and provided research and evaluation support for interventions focused on healthy eating, SNAP-ED, and women’s heart health with Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, and Michigan State University Extension.

Katherine holds an MS in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition with a Specialization in Nutrition Interventions from Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and a BS in Dietetics with a Specialization in Environmental Studies from Michigan State University.

Katherine was ranked second in the Indiana SkillsUSA Commercial Baking competition, which helped inspire her career path to health and nutrition work.