Kudos & Recommendations

What people say when they talk about working with me - clients, colleagues, mentees, and collaborators from across 14 years and 30+ organizations.

Client Feedback

Kate is impressive - she provided value right away. She's a 'hell-yes' type of talent.

Mahama·Technical Program Manager, Google

Kate is AMAZING. Her energy, the structure she brings to discussions, the way she deals with difficult conversations.

Jennifer·Design & Strategy Director, Kaiser Permanente

Kate's love and passion for product management is obvious from the moment you start talking to her. She cares deeply about creating something useful, functional, and beautiful. Kate taught and trained me in product management - everything I understand now about Agile software development is thanks to her capable instruction.

Grace·Product Manager, U.S. Air Force

Kate has amazing ideas, is very creative, and highly productive. She brings a lot of great energy, thinking, and leadership to our Delivery practice and is helping me establish and run an effective system for continuous improvement and upleveling our Delivery practices.

Rich·Executive Director, Delivery, Kaiser Permanente

You're doing an amazing job! Thanks a million for coming in and making such a positive impact. Feedback from the clients has been super positive. You go girl!!!

Strategic Client Team·Office Director + Account Exec, Pivotal Labs

When I met Kate, I didn't know what it took to create a product. She trained and led our team that had ZERO experience: she guided us through a Discovery process, planning and design workshops, helped us outline an MVP - and we delivered the first usable product in under 120 days. Kate showed a true passion for building useful software and a knack for facilitating any group meeting. Three years later, she's one of the best PMs I've been fortunate to work with - she directly contributed to my growth as a Product Designer.

Frank·Product Designer, U.S. Air Force

Kate's great at getting the right people in the room, asking the right questions, and moving teams forward to make decisions and turn them into action. She excels at rallying groups to share an identity and help each other.

Steph·Product Manager, U.S. Air Force

Before our team worked with Kate, we were unsure about our product direction. We left each consultation with her confident in our next steps. Her advice got us thinking about how users might perceive our product once it was in the market, which helped us solidify our user experience and onboarding flow. I would implore you to work with Kate and trust the experience she's got.

Joel·Founder/Entrepreneur, Penn State Launchbox

THANK YOU Kate! You've been a great partner: You challenged me in ways I needed to expand my thinking, you're overflowing with good ideas, and your enthusiasm kept us going. I appreciate how you take notes to visualize ideas and keep work moving forward. Your energy is contagious and makes it a joy to work with you. Let's keep collaborating to curve the organization closer to the crystal-clear product model vision you convey.

Pete·Product Portfolio Director, Kaiser Permanente

I have to say, I appreciate everything that you bring to the table. It's refreshing, different and challenging. Thank you.

Chris·Delivery Director, Goldman Sachs

Colleague Feedback

Thank you for being so creative, proactive, and thoughtful about how we get results every day. You're crushing it in the "get *^%# done" department! Admiration props and gratitude. Thank you for diving into work with such energy and drive - you're developing a reputation as someone who can execute within moments of being thrown into complex situations, and it's incredible to see.

Jen·Product Management Leader, Kaiser Permanente

Kate has a strong bias for action. She initiates helpful activities and sees them through, like producing interactive Product Workshops to help teams deliver more value quickly. Kate's willing to speak up about problems she sees and engage her teammates in developing solutions. She's one of the most consistently motivated and energetic people I've worked with.

Jay·Digital Transformation Coach, Kaiser Permanente

I think you're great. I'm excited to see you really executing. Transferring product ownership to your gang was awesome - lets you demonstrate everything I knew you could do when I hired you. You present well and are well liked, and it's known you bring huge value which is so awesome.

Erica·Director of Product Management, Zendesk

FANTASTIC session and awesome presentation. Great job. I love your product campfire - more please.

Product Executives·Product Leadership, Kaiser Permanente

Thanks for continuing to look for ways to add value, as always Kate. You've really been a breath of fresh air on this project.

Jimmy·Transformation Org Leader, Kaiser Permanente

It was amazing to partner with you to drive the initial product MVP. You played an important role pushing to clear technical debt and establish key UX! We all appreciate the way you show up for the team and are always so enthusiastic, energetic, and passionate in sharing the team's progress. Your storytelling and presentation skills are something the design and product team have learned a lot from. Thank you for being such an amazing PM to work with.

Jian Wei·Director, Platform Design, Zendesk

Thanks for making this project happen, Kate. Everything happened so much faster with your help and I really appreciate our working sessions to help me organize all the thoughts in my brain. I'm inspired by you, your passion and your energy. If I could pick someone to pair with, I'd be your dedicated partner always and forever. You bring calm to my otherwise hectic day!

Barbara·Program Operations, Kaiser Permanente

I learn something new every time I get to work with Kate. I've been impressed with her way to push through complex topics in a fun and engaging way. She did a tremendous amount of ground work to help our OKR metrics exercise go smoothly, and her work with the annual planning team required perseverance, patience, and tact.

Steven·Product Delivery Coach, Kaiser Permanente

Your communication in our leadership shareouts is really great. You get their attention and convey the important bits so clearly. Thank you.

Andi·Product Design Coach, Kaiser Permanente

Really good job kicking off the new feature with the team. You've really hit the ground running and have been able to come in quickly to grok what we're doing and talk the talk. Excited to dig in more to uncover unknowns.

Joel·Head of Product, GatsbyJS

Kate can out-hustle anyone: she brings a contagious energy and passion. Her superpower is simplifying the complexity we deal with - seamlessly weaving through details, synthesizing information visually with unmatched speed. She's a transformative force on our team.

Jason·Product Delivery, Kaiser Permanente

Kate is a passionate, persuasive leader with a bias for action and getting things done. She's a direct communicator who cares deeply about the people she works with and the projects she works on, and she isn't afraid to step into difficult conversations when necessary. She regularly facilitates our management team meetings; she calmly keeps our opinionated bunch on track, doing what's right, and accomplishing our goals each time. She has an upbeat and positive attitude and instills confidence in the people she works with.

Michelle·Product Management Director, Pivotal Labs (VMware)

Coaching & Mentee Feedback

Kate quite literally taught me everything I know about product. She's the real deal.

Rawan·Senior Product Manager, 1-1 Product Mentee

I thoroughly enjoyed your Intro to Product Management course. You were engaging and full of energy. I loved when we broke out into teams to apply what you taught us about MVP - I didn't feel intimidated because you made it so easy for me to understand, even though I don't work in a technical field. I walked away from the experience empowered, confident in my abilities, and ready to move to the next level. Thank you so much.

Myinn·Certified Scrum Master, General Assembly

I was reflecting on my career journey, and I couldn't be grateful enough for the time you spent with me answering questions and giving me advice. This conversation made a huge difference for me! Your recommendation to have "strong opinions loosely held" is one that I continue to apply in my work today. I wanted to thank you for your time and for pointing me in the right direction.

Yago·IT Business Analyst, CSPO, General Assembly

LOVE the energy and absolutely LOVED your approach to distill down the priorities for this workstream. Thank you so much for everything, Kate - we are killing it!!!! You are a great coach.

Rob·Delivery Director, Kaiser Permanente

I wanted to tell you about how much value I get out of the drop-in coaching sessions that Kate hosts for Product Managers. Her particular brand of audacious questions and observations (and brutally cheerful dismissal of assumptions) always makes me think and ponder anew.

Sanjay·Senior Product Manager, Kaiser Permanente

Kate is a natural instructor. She makes it easy for folks to talk to her about goals and challenges. My experience working with her truly prepared me to succeed - granted me a new level of respect from my stakeholders, and helped me repair team relationships. Kate made me into one hell of a product manager.

Keysha·Product Manager, Home Depot

More Feedback

Kate's product talk was amazing. Just what these teams needed - someone who is passionate and an expert at what they do. Thank you so much for your willingness to help these founders.

Lee·Chief Innovation Amplifier, Penn State Launchbox

Kate, Thank you for your insightful and informative panel discussion tonight. Your positive energy and passion for what you do is very engaging. It's apparent you inspire action and energy in those around you, and I really want to learn that skill!

Lisa·Product Experience Designer, General Assembly

Thanks again for the Product Management presentation you gave the team this week. You KILLED it! You're a really fantastic speaker, everyone really enjoyed it and I personally found it so beneficial. We'd love to have you back to dive deeper into more topics next week.

Workplace Team·EAs and Program Managers, Pivotal Labs (VMware)

Kate, thank you so much. You are a delight and so effective at sharing data in a lightning round. We love the subject matter expertise, energy, and passion. THANK YOU KATE!

SDLC Team·IT Governance, Kaiser Permanente

Thank you, Kate, for all your help so far with 2024 Planning sessions! We appreciate you jumping in and doing such a great job facilitating and Miro-ing. Appreciate you!

Rain·Data Analyst, Kaiser Permanente

Thanks for facilitating our website content meetings. Your passion and enthusiasm shine through!

Michelle·Communications Manager, Kaiser Permanente

Kate's work was impressive. Placing a PM on a technical App Modernization project was an experiment - she demonstrated that a good PM can provide massive value here. Her ability to focus and prioritize helped our team meet the OKRs in just 3 weeks. The client feedback was stellar and I strongly believe Kate's contributions played a big role. Her teammates shared positive feedback, too. Thank you Kate!

Mahil·Agency Office Director, Pivotal Labs (VMware)

Kate doesn't go to eleven, she goes to twelve. She's the brass ring, the bees knees and the cherry on top. She's the piece de resistance and the creme de la creme. She's the product lead of the universe. We love you to pieces, Kate!

Product Team·Award Recognition, ThreeFiveTwo (352, Inc.)

Kate is an incredible product leader and teacher. I've had the opportunity to collaborate with Kate on creating workshops, working directly with teams to uncover opportunities, and bring transformation to large organizations, where she comes through as a leader and an amplifier to those involved. She's incredible at helping people learn how to facilitate a regular meeting with impact, to highlighting opportunities to make an organization more adaptable and making it seem like it's within reach.

Alex Sherman·Peer at Pivotal Labs & Kaiser Permanente, Pivotal Labs / Kaiser Permanente

I worked with Kate at Kaiser Permanente where she was a coach driving our adoption of the Product model. Kate's high energy and collaborative approach were impressive. She's a thought partner who thrives on innovation, constantly seeking new opportunities to enhance processes. Kate's expertise is evident in her insights, and her commitment to constant improvement is inspiring.

Pete Hoots·Director of Portfolio Management and Planning, Kaiser Permanente

Kate is extremely results-driven, visionary, creative, resourceful, reliable - and she will *exceed* any goal, faster than anyone thought possible. She's an activator at the core, and inspires everyone around her to charge toward a bold and bright future. She's exceptional at simplifying the complex, and solving big, gnarly problems quickly.

Jen Handler·Manager at KP, PM Peer at Pivotal Labs, Kaiser Permanente / Pivotal Labs

Kate is a powerhouse, effortlessly fusing tenacity and creativity. With expertise in modern product best practices and design best practices, she tackles challenges with precision, leaving no room for ambiguity and proving to be an indispensable force within our team.

Andi Plantenberg·Teammate at Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Permanente

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