KATHERINE R. HUTT, APR, FELLOW PRSA
President and Founder

Katherine has 22 years experience in public relations/public affairs in the nation's capital, working with a variety of nonprofits, advocacy organizations, government agencies, trade associations and businesses. A writer at heart, she specializes in translating “bureaucratese” and “legalese” into common English understandable to the average consumer, and using the Internet as a communications tool. She brings laser-like focus to her clients’ marketing communications efforts with her twin passions for clarity and quality control.

Before starting Nautilus Communications in 1996, Katherine was Director of Public Affairs with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety for six years and Director of Public Affairs with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators for three years. She still loves the highway safety field and has had numerous national, state and local safety groups as clients over the years.

Katherine is big believer in networking, and she is the only person in Washington to have served as President of both Washington Women in Public Relations (2001) and the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (1993). Both groups have recognized her PR savvy. In 2004, she was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows, a lifetime designation considered one of the profession’s highest awards for individual achievement. In 1994, she was honored by WWPR as “Washington PR Woman of the Year.” She was accredited in public relations (APR) by PRSA in 1989 and received that organization’s “National President's Citation for Meritorious Service” in 1993. She has held several national PRSA positions, including the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards, and has spoken at the Women as Leaders Conference, several universities, and numerous nonprofit groups. She assisted the Vienna-Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce in revamping its image, Web site and member communications, and was honored by the organization in 2005 as its “Entrepreneur of the Year.”

In her non-existent spare time, Katherine is a Girl Scout leader and an active school and church volunteer. Her youthful forays into acting now come in handy when she reads to her two children, Billy and Katie, using silly voices. It is her secret ambition to see a living chambered nautilus in the wild, which would involve deep sea diving in the Indian Ocean (not any time soon!).