MMS, PRINZ member

Kate joined HMC Communications in June 2019 bringing with her more than 22 years public relations experience.

Kate has worked in both agency and in-house communications roles giving her a breadth of knowledge and experience across sectors such as tertiary education, FMCG, local government, transport, apiary, energy, fashion, aviation, medical research, immigration and agriculture.

Kate’s key strengths include strategic communications planning, copywriting, leadership and team management, internal communications, event management and fundraising, stakeholder relations, and project management.

Born and bred on a dairy farm near Cambridge, Kate’s passion for agriculture has always been in her blood. She spent nearly 6 years with Baldwin Boyle Group in Hamilton and Auckland providing public relations counsel to clients such as the New Zealand Dairy Group/Fonterra, AFFCO, and New Zealand Dairy Foods (now Fonterra Brands). Other key clients included the University of Auckland and Mighty River Power (Mercury).

Kate lived in Italy for nearly 4 years where she worked alongside the CEO of a large fashion corporate, assisting with the development and translation of promotional material, as well as event management for bi-annual expos in Florence.

Kate joined the communications team at DairyNZ in 2007, leading public relations efforts for the New Zealand dairy industry’s environmental and animal welfare programmes. She was also part of the team that coordinated the transition from Dexcel to DairyNZ, which included a major rebranding campaign. During that time, Kate was responsible for leading communications efforts for DairyNZ’s farmer tri-annual levy vote to secure funding for industry good research and development.

Kate has a Master of Management Studies in Public Relations from the Waikato Management School and started her career with the communications team at the University of Waikato.

Until recently, Kate was an equity partner in her family’s 1000 cow dairy operation near Taupo, where she lived for 10 years. She has two children aged 10 and 12, and enjoys playing an active role in supporting her children’s school and its community.