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 Kathryn Paugh
Executive Director
The Chamber’s board of trustees
concluded a national search on Dec. 14, naming a
candidate in our own backyard as the successor to
Chamber Executive Director John Butterfield.
Chamber board chair Zita Hunt, of
Whalen & Company CPAs and Consultants, announced that
Kathryn Paugh (left), a local business owner, resident and
longtime Chamber supporter, will succeed John
Butterfield as executive director. Paugh begins her new
duties in January, beginning the transition to new
leadership when Butterfield steps down at the end of
March, following 11 years as executive director.
Butterfield announced his plans in
October. A search committee of Chamber trustees, chaired
by Hunt, began a two-month executive search process,
advertising the position nationwide and through local,
state and national associations of other chambers of
commerce. Four series of interviews, narrowing the field
of approximately 50 candidates, were conducted before
the selection committee presented two candidates to the
full board of trustees for final selection and approval.
“The search committee and board were
pleased with the high caliber of applicants who sought
our Chamber’s executive director position and are
delighted that Kathryn will continue providing
leadership to our organization,” Hunt said.
“She has a proven track record of
successful leadership and has shown strong teamwork and
high goal orientation and performance with integrity in
all of her various roles with our chamber."
Hunt added, “She has the interpersonal skills for
developing meaningful and productive connections among
businesspeople, community groups, government officials
and school leaders.”
Hunt added that Paugh has
demonstrated “a strong commitment to helping individual
members succeed and to the growth and development of our
organization. Her dedication to the Chamber, her
enthusiasm and creativity, her understanding of the
needs of members and her connections with other business
and community leaders were factors that led to her
appointment.”
A marketing communications
professional, Paugh has owned KRP Communications for 16
years. Her clients have included nonprofits, membership
and trade organizations like the Chamber, as well as
health care companies, Fortune 500 firms and public
sector clients. Previously, she had 17 years’ experience
managing communications departments for major health
insurers, hospitals and nonprofit health agencies. For
the past six months, she has served the Chamber as
marketing and membership sales consultant, helping the
Chamber pass its 700-member mark.
She earned a master’s degree from the
Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and
holds two bachelor’s degrees from Otterbein College.
Her company has been a member of our
Chamber since 1995 and a Sustaining Member since 2004.
Paugh has been an active volunteer since 1998, when she
helped to launch the Chamber’s major fundraising event,
Reds, Whites & Desserts.
In 1999 she was named the Chamber’s
Small Business Person of the Year. She has served on the
Chamber’s board of trustees since January 2000, chairing
the board in 2003.
As a volunteer, she has recruited
more new members than any other Chamber member.
Paugh has strong relationships with
the libraries, schools, the city and community groups
who are key partners of the Chamber. She served seven
years as a Worthington Libraries trustee; was a founding
board member of Leadership Worthington; co-founded
Worthington Area Business & Professional Women; was a
member of the delegation signing Worthington’s Sister
City agreement with Sayama , Japan; and has served on
school-business partnership councils and task forces for
many community groups.
In 1998 she won the Ohio Association
of Community Leadership’s Outstanding Community Leader
award, and she was the recipient of the Leadership for a
Lifetime Award from Leadership Worthington in 2006.
She has been a resident of the
Worthington School District since 1979, is married, and
has a grown daughter.
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