Kate Blunt

Kate is an Associate Senior Consultant with both the Treasury Department’s Federal Consulting Group and Weidner, Inc.  Her most recent engagements include: 1) guiding the development of a comprehensive performance measurement system for a federal grants agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2) conducting a comprehensive customer value analysis, including phone and on-line surveys as well as focus groups, to shape the strategic direction and business operations of the Rosslyn, Va., Business Improvement District; and, 3) with Weidner, Inc., implementing Managing for Results in Wayne County, Michigan and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Between 1993 and 2004, Kate was the Director of Planning at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) responsible for integrating corporate-wide strategic, budget and workforce planning as well as directing a variety of customer service, re-engineering and change management efforts.  While at PBGC, Kate established a sophisticated program performance measurement system including use of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the Gallup Q12, and Weidner’s Managing for Results methodology.  She guided a team in developing PBGC’s first Workforce Utilization Plan, sited by GAO in its 2003 “Key Principles for Strategic Workforce Planning” study.  Kate oversaw successful PART and Baldrige organizational self-assessments, and implementation of the President’s Management Agenda (four greens and one yellow; a 2004 OMB PART Score of 88 for strategic planning, 79 overall).

Kate is credited as the architect and leader of a corporate-wide culture change at PBGC resulting in some of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the federal government.  She established one of the best customer feedback programs in the federal government using the results to initiate innovative customer service delivery improvements including measuring and improving internal service.

“Kate has been one of the most effective change agents within the Corporation.  She has a clear organizational vision of a customer-driven organization that regularly measures its performance based on a balanced scorecard.  Her leadership in this area takes on the multiple roles of analyst, cheerleader, negotiator and even prodder.  She has been remarkably successful in balancing those roles.” John Seal, Chief Management Officer, PBGC.

Just prior to joining PBGC, Kate spent four years as the Managing Partner of a Chicago consulting firm specializing in collaboration and leadership communication issues.  Her focus was assisting businesses to improve team effectiveness, benchmark best practices, and streamline processes.  Clients included Fortune 500 companies from the oil, banking and health care industries.

From 1979 to1989, Kate served as a senior executive for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity    Commission, directing both the Milwaukee and Chicago Offices as well as serving in its Headquarters’ Field Operations Office overseeing 49 field offices with @3000 staff.  In 1988, under her leadership, the Chicago Office was designated a Quality Improvement Prototype by the President’s Council on Management Improvement.  She was also one of three U.S. representatives selected by the German Marshall Fund to keynote an EEC Conference on “Working Women and Equal Opportunity” in London.