Kathryn Harris (for Helen Hayes)

Kathryn Harris
Chief Operating Office, ActivateWork

Kathryn is the Chief Operating Officer of ActivateWork in Denver, Colorado.  ActivateWork is a recruiting, training and coaching firm serving the IT sector who connects employers to a diverse pool of exceptional talent. Kathryn began her career at Accenture consulting for large financial service companies to streamline small business lending processes and to build software applications to increase productivity. For the past 20 years, she has worked in the nonprofit sector both in Winter Park, running the Grand Foundation and in Denver at Rose Community Foundation. Kathryn has spent the last 12 years in education, most recently focused on improving the quality of early care and education as President and CEO of Qualistar Colorado. Kathryn is a Leadership Denver member from 2012, a 2019 Buell Early Childhood Leadership Fellow, and a 2021 Leadership Foundation Civic DNA Fellow. She is a founding board member of the Colorado Inclusive Economy movement and the Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative. Kathryn received a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College and a certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from Boston College.

Kathryn has worked throughout her career to address issues such as income disparity, and unequal access to education that often prevent communities from thriving. She strives to build better, more equitable processes and systems to allow individuals - regardless of their income or color of their skin – to succeed.