BARBARA KAKIRIS, OCPM
STRATEGIC Advisor, GOVERNANCE, STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & EXECUTIVE OPERATIONS
Barbara Kakiris brings over 30 years of executive leadership across federal government, higher education, healthcare, and civic institutions to Catalyzed Impact, with a career spanning public agencies, universities, health systems, foundations, and municipal government. As a Senior Advisor, she specializes in governance, stakeholder engagement, and public affairs, helping organizations strengthen how they are governed, how they are represented, and how they engage the people whose support they depend on.
Barbara is known for translating institutional priorities into relationships that hold. She has advised presidents, chief executives, board chairs, and elected officials, building the coalitions, protocols, and stakeholder structures that allow complex initiatives to survive contact with the real world. Her experience ranges from NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center to Cleveland State University, Kenyon College, and The MetroHealth System, where she served as Chief of Staff directing strategic operations and executive communications, and as Director of Engagement and Stewardship for The MetroHealth Foundation, architecting donor engagement strategies that advanced the system's work in affordable housing, environmental wellness, and economic opportunity. She has also served as an elected official, helping govern the Village of Gambier.
An Ohio Certified Public Manager and long-standing board leader, Barbara holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Kenyon College and a Master of Studies from the University of Oxford, where she was among the program's first graduates, with executive education from MIT Sloan School of Management, The Protocol School of Washington, and the Association of Junior Leagues International. She serves as State Public Affairs Committee Chair for the Junior Leagues of Ohio following a two-year term as President of the Junior League of Cleveland., and as President of the Lakewood Rangers Education Foundation, and has previously chaired the boards of the Knox County Convention and Visitors Bureau, New Directions, and NAMI.
She brings to every engagement not just deep expertise, but discretion, credibility, and a genuine commitment to helping mission-driven leaders build institutions that earn and keep public trust.
At Catalyzed Impact, Barbara offers strategic advisement and hands-on support in:
Governance & Board Development: Board structure and role clarity, committee design, governance assessments, recruitment and onboarding, and bylaws and policy alignment.
Stakeholder Engagement & Public Affairs: Engagement strategy design, coalition building, community and government relations, and partnership development across sectors.
Executive Operations & Chief of Staff Support: Executive office design, decision-making structures, cross-functional initiative management, and translating strategy into operating rhythm.
Institutional Change Management: Leading enterprise-wide initiatives, transition and succession planning, and communications strategy through periods of change.
Donor Engagement & Stewardship: Stewardship system design, engagement strategy and evaluation, and aligning philanthropic activity with mission and program priorities.
“"Working with Barb brought clarity and structure to our policies. She helped create practical, compliant documents that reflect who we are as an organization while giving our team clear expectations."
Jennifer Harris, Ph.D. CEO, Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development.”
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