After first serving as the Chief of Staff to Mayor Andre Sayegh in Paterson, New Jersey, Kathleen currently serves as Business Administrator (COO) of the city, where she oversees a $270M budget and 1400 employees. She also leads efforts connecting Paterson to Bloomberg Philanthropies' Government Innovation Team, participating in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and managing the team which helped Paterson reach two milestones in 2021-2022: winning the Bloomberg Global Mayor's Challenge (one of only 15 cities worldwide) and earning What Works Cities Silver Certification for data-driven decision making. Kathleen is a recognized public policy leader, appearing on InsiderNJ's Top 100 Policymakers and ELGL's Top 100 Local Government Influencers. Prior to joining Paterson government, she served as Director of Development for Oasis: A Haven for Women and Children. Kathleen is a 2002 Mitchell Scholar. She received a Master's Degree in Government Studies from University College Cork. Her thesis research examined statistics on the participation of women in politics in Ireland and compared them with data from the United States and countries in Northern Europe. She contributed a chapter on the topic to the seventh edition of the textbook 'Irish Politics Today.' Following the completion of her scholarship year, she worked for the US-Ireland Alliance and helped bring a congressional delegation to Ireland. Kathleen obtained her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.