Katie Berland - Powell Strategies

Katie Berland – Director

Katie Berland is an award-winning strategic communications strategist with nearly eight years of experience in strategic planning with an emphasis on building brand visibility for government stakeholders. Katie’s career has been centered around her core belief of the importance of honest, transparent communication. Katie believes that providing public information is an essential civil service, and that each citizen has a right to equal, full, understandable, and timely facts about the activities, policies, and people of the agencies comprising his, her, or their government.

At Powell Strategies, Katie supports the Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. She develops and implements internal and external communications strategies, stakeholder engagement plans, and supports team of communication professionals who provide various strategic communication support to the government.

Prior to joining Powell, Katie worked as the Strategic Communication Lead for the Department of Defense Military-Civilian Transition Office (MCTO). MCTO is the Defense policy office responsible for oversight of a congressionally mandated program providing support to over 200,000 transitioning military members on an annual basis. Additionally, Katie has worked in public affairs for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army. Her experience also includes work on the local government level, providing support to a law enforcement agency in Colorado as a Public Information and Community Information Officer.

Katie earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Strategy from Colorado Mesa University and is currently working on obtaining an Accreditation in Public Relations certification. Katie also currently serves as the Communications Director for the National Association of Government Communicators.

When she is not working, Katie loves to spend her time volunteering, fostering kittens, getting lost in a good book, or creating new recipes in her kitchen. A Colorado native and current Washingtonian, Katie is passionate about causes concerning education, humanitarian relief efforts, animal welfare, and mental health.

Powell Strategies received the 2021 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award for our commitment to hiring veterans and military spouses. This award signals our commitment to helping veterans reach their employment potential. This marks the second year in a row Powell Strategies has earned the Gold Medallion Award.

On December 07, 2020, Powell Strategies is pleased to announce it has been named on the prestigious 4th annual Vet100 list - honoring the fastest growing veteran-owned and operated businesses from the annual Inc. 5000 list! The ranking, created in partnership with Inc. magazine and Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), was born out of the iconic Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest growing private companies.

Powell Strategies was recently honored by the 2020 AVA Digital Awards, receiving the platinum award in the Digital Marketing, Social Campaign category for our work supporting the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. We were also honored at the 2019 MarCom awards with a platinum award in the Print Media category, a gold award in the Video/Audio category, and three honorable mentions.

The first program of its kind in the nation, the Veteran Institute for Procurement is conducted by professional subject-matter specialists in the essentials necessary to win government contracts: law, accounting, insurance, human resources, marketing and proposals. It also provides participants with access to Federal and prime contracting executives along with a national network of veteran owned small businesses that they can team with on opportunities.

Powell Strategies Principal John Williams was among 137 entrepreneurs from 34 states, Washington D.C, and Puerto Rico who graduated from the Babson Cohort of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, a national program created to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital, and business support services. The small businesses in this group represent a total of $240M in revenues and over 3,000 jobs from a broad range of industries.

MSEP is part of DoD's broader Spouse Education and Career Opportunities (SECO) initiative, seeking to strengthen the education and career opportunities of military spouses by providing career exploration opportunities to help them understand their skills, interests, and goals; education and training to help them identify academic, licensing, or credentialing requirements that can help them reach their career goals; and employment connections that help them find and maintain a rewarding career.