Kate Schroeder

Background

About Kate Schroeder

I have always thrived in multi-faceted work environments which require wearing many hats. For me, this has provided a constant intellectual challenge that has used all of my skills but also helped me acquire new ones. Program management requires being on your A game managing the people doing the work. My focus has been helping teams innovate and achieve peak performance in fulfilling program mission by establishing big picture goals and clear performance expectations. I have found that I truly enjoy leading a team to set goals and then working through the challenges and details to reach those goals step by step together. Personally, I was inspired during my tenure at the Hood River Chamber because I worked with all types of businesses. This was a never-ending learning opportunity and I gained countless valuable insights. In fact, this was the best aspect of my work since innovation and change have inspired my career. I like to do all types of different things because it keeps things fresh within one organization. I love the challenge of having to constantly evolve. This also fits with my change agent approach; I am always seeking out ways to improve processes, enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and reduce costs to optimize program impact. And as an action-oriented problem solver, I anticipate problems before they arise. I’m not afraid to step in to resolve issues and remove roadblocks preventing programs from reaching their fullest potential. For me, fixing problems just comes with asking the right questions to the right people to understand what happened – then finding out what the solution is to quickly fix it. Finally, I would also describe myself as a fiscally-astute budget manager stewarding program budgets to stay within guardrails while driving value, quality of program services, and accuracy. The best part of my work as a program manager? Having a great idea come to fruition and working with all the people it takes to bring it to fruition