Katrina joined the ICA Group in January 2017 following a fifteen-year career supporting the development and scale of businesses and institutions in a variety of industries and sectors, with a common thread of sustainable social, environmental, and economic development.
Between 2017-2023, Katrina led ICA’s home care program, contributing to growth and strengthening of the national home care cooperative sector through research, education, and cooperative consulting. Today, as Vice President of Home Care Innovations, Katrina leads strategy, planning, and development of ICA’s scaled home care industry innovations including Elevate Cooperative–a new secondary cooperative for the home care cooperative sector–state-based secondary cooperatives, rapid replication models of home care cooperative development, acquisitions strategy and related work including partnership development, fundraising, and public education. Katrina also leads educational programming for the for the National Home Care Cooperatives Conference and the National Home Care Cooperative Initiative, provides direct consulting to home care cooperative clients and participates sector research. Finally, Katrina has co-authored over a dozen research studies on home care cooperative development and scale including Profitability, Growth, and Influence: Elevating the Home Care Cooperative Sector with Formalized National Collaboration (January 2021).
Katrina received her MA in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University, her BA in Visual Anthropology, and a certificate in Native American Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a member of the Board of Nonotuck Community School, a parent-led cooperative preschool and has served on numerous other boards and committees over the years.
Between 2017-2023, I led ICA’s home care program, contributing to growth and strengthening of the national home care cooperative sector through research, education, and consulting. Today, as Vice President of Home Care Innovations, I lead strategy, planning, and development of ICA’s scaled home care innovations including national and state-based secondary cooperatives, rapid replication models of home care cooperative development, acquisitions strategy and related work including partnership development, fundraising, and public education.
I deeply respect and admire each of the cooperatives we work with. Home Care Associates of Philadelphia and its core of deeply dedicated worker-owners stand-out as a particularly inspirational group for me as they live and breathe cooperative values in every aspect of their work and remain steadfast in their pursuit for quality jobs and quality care despite a continuous stream of challenges that push them in new and intense ways.
My recent favorite TED Talk is “How Mom’s Shape the World” by sociologist and author Anna Malaika Tubbs. In her talk, Tubbs shares about the lives of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin (the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin, respectively), and their deep influence in the life trajectories and work of their celebrated sons. It was inspiring to hear the life stories and journeys of these three powerful women, and it was a great reminder that behind every great person are many others that shape and support them on their journey, that should be recognized and celebrated too.
I have two young children, so I don’t have a lot of time for myself. But ICA is incredibly supportive of self-care and work-life balance so I use the time and space given to me to connect with my family, cook, garden, travel and partake in the many activities I enjoy!
I’m based in our office in Northampton, a community I love!
The last leadership book I read was Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. While Sandberg has come under scrutiny in recent years for her involvement at Facebook, her message still rings true for me. I have had to “lean in” many times in my career, despite feeling uncomfortable, unqualified, or unwelcome. I see this a lot in the work that we do with home care cooperatives. Many caregivers, the majority of which are women, are initially intimidated by the prospect of business ownership and leadership. They have never had the opportunity to “lean in” in their workplaces and question their abilities. But when they do, they realize just how capable they are.
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