As Director of Island Institute’s Center for Sustainable Communities, Kate oversees our Island Fellows work, in addition to our work in education and workforce development, and our work to expand broadband access to coastal and island communities. She also provides administrative support to the co-chairs of the Maine Islands Coalition and is the institutional liaison for the Great Lakes Islands Coalition.

A native of Vermont, Kate spent three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu, facilitating community marine conservation efforts, before joining the Island Institute staff in 2013 as the Community Development Associate, where she oversaw the day-to-day management and recruitment for the Island Fellows program. Kate holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of New England and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.