Katie mediates in the family office environment, drawing on her Master of Counseling degree; psychology undergraduate degree; twenty years of litigating and mediating tough, complex family law matters; two years of conducting workplace investigations; and career-long volunteer work mediating in nonprofit organizations. Family office work entails challenging strategic planning on high-stakes issues, among people who must navigate extremely challenging conversations, for which they need professional guidance.

Katie expertly coaches family members, and the people who hold support roles in the various family businesses, as they talk to each other about succession planning, incorporating new spouses into the family office, incorporating young children into the family office while preserving their childhoods, creating businesses to meet the interests of the next generation members as they grow into adults and move into the family office structure, and many other delicate topics requiring awareness of the interconnectedness within the system and the balance required to keep it profitable and on mission.

Katie accomplishes this by listening with full attention, high intelligence, and a strong understanding that in group dynamics, what we see on the surface is a small part of the entire picture. Katie prides herself on being a psychological detective. She routinely arrives at insights not displayed on the surface and has the right words to invite progress, rather than staying stuck in a circular dynamic. This pushes business growth forward and keeps people in as much harmony as possible as the family office grows changes shape.

Katie also works with family-owned businesses that are not family offices. The work is the same; the complexity varies.