Client Services Director
Katie partners with private foundations, public charities, and donor-advised funds to help philanthropic families and boards give with clarity and confidence. She guides clients through the full lifecycle of their charitable work, from grantmaking strategy and due diligence to governance, compliance, and financial reporting. This allows clients to stay focused on impact rather than paperwork.
With deep knowledge of IRS rules governing private foundations and public charities, Katie helps boards navigate complex compliance requirements, including self-dealing rules, minimum distribution requirements, public support tests, equivalency determinations, and expenditure responsibility. She supports board development and meeting facilitation, coordinates with legal, tax, and investment advisors, and keeps clients ahead of federal and state compliance deadlines, from Form 990-PF filings to multi-state charitable registrations.
Beyond compliance, Katie works closely with clients on the strategic side of philanthropy. She develops grantmaking frameworks, structures complex grant agreements, and supports international giving and scholarship programmes. Her approach combines technical rigour with genuine partnership, giving clients a trusted resource who understands both the rules and the mission behind them.
Before joining Sterling, Katie built her career in the retail industry, where she went well beyond client service. She coordinated community classes, spearheaded merchandising initiatives, led teams on short-term projects across the country, and supported process improvements that strengthened operations company-wide. Her contributions were recognised with a peer-nominated, annual award for embodying the company's core values of authenticity, quality, service, respect, integrity, and balance. That experience sharpened her ability to anticipate needs, build lasting relationships, and lead projects from idea to execution, a foundation that now shapes how she supports philanthropic clients today.
Katie is equally passionate about giving back to her community. She has volunteered with a range of philanthropic organisations, previously organising fundraising events for the United Way and organising community projects for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Upon moving to the D.C. region, she served as a farm educator, helping children with limited access to fresh produce learn where their food comes from, and worked as a stewardship volunteer to help preserve parks and public spaces across Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Katie is a graduate of Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management and is currently pursuing her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation, deepening her expertise in strategic charitable giving.