Kate Doerge

Operating Partner

Kate is an Operating Partner at Traub, focused on Commercial Communications. She works with the team on all aspects of brand strategy and optimization across domestic and global markets.

Kate is a dynamic business leader, brand strategist and trusted advisor, relentlessly driving organizational transformation and delivering impactful results. As Principal of Kate Doerge Consulting, Kate champions innovation, winning cultures, and optimizes brand performance to generate value for stakeholders. She is highly regarded for launching, building and revitalizing consumer lifestyle brands for prestige clients including L’Oréal, H&M, Kate Spade, Tag Heuer, Oscar de la Renta, and Elie Saab.

Previously, Kate was Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing at iStar, New York, leading iStar’s branding and communications efforts. She launched the firm’s first marketing department to drive awareness, scale the business, increase deal flow and boost the stock price. Kate helped iStar play a central role in the revitalization of Asbury Park, NJ., leading the creation of the “Asbury Park Now” brand campaign, in conjunction with the opening of the Asbury Ocean Club, the first 5-Star residence & hotel which created record-breaking sales, including the first ever $6 million penthouse condominium sold in Asbury Park. Additionally, she launched the firm’s inaugural ESG report, contributing to increased ratings, and was a member of the ESG Advisory Council. Kate also launched the branding/marketing efforts for Safehold, the ground lease REIT managed by iStar.

Before that, Kate was a Partner at Paul Wilmot Communications, a premier consumer and lifestyle public relations firm. During her tenure, she led the firm’s Fashion, Beauty & Wellness, Accessories, Culture & Lifestyle divisions, launching and growing a range of luxury and lifestyle brands.

In 2015, after 6 years as a Board member, Kate was appointed Co-Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Hospital for Special Surgery, the country’s top ranked hospital for orthopedics and rheumatology. She sits on the Board of Trustees and the HSS Pediatric Council. For the past 16 years, Kate has Co-Chaired HSS’s largest and most successful fundraiser for the Pediatric Pavilion, raising more than $25 million to date.

Kate sits on the Board and acts as a strategic advisor for the Penny Doerge Adaptive Academy (PDAA) at Hospital for Special Surgery, raising ~$1 million for the Academy in 2023. She is also Co-Founder and CEO of Penny’s Flight Foundation, a non-profit organization, dedicated to raising awareness and funding for Neurofibromatosis (NF), launched in honor of Kate and her husband Chad’s daughter Penny who passed away from this condition in November, 2022. The foundation has launched and funded scientific research projects, reached over 20 million people, and has raised over $3.2 million dollars to date.

Additional philanthropic interests include Board member of the Glen Cove Girls and Boys Club, and Greenvale School.

Kate graduated with Honors from Hamilton College in both Communications and Art History. She lives in Glen Cove, NY with her husband, Chad and two children, Henry and Frankie.