The Harvest Foundation names new president

Kathryn Keller will relocate to Martinsville for new position

Published June 19, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Kathryn “Kate” E. Keller. Photo courtesy The Harvest Foundation

The Harvest Foundation in Martinsville announced Friday that it has named Kathryn “Kate” E. Keller as its new president. She is expected to start on July 15.

Keller replaces Allyson Rothrock, who is retiring after more than 17 years with The Harvest Foundation.

Keller worked for 20 years at Cincinnati-based health foundation Interact for Health, where she had been vice president of strategy and policy, vice president of policy and external relations, senior program officer and program officer. She also recently established Keller Consulting, which offers health care and consulting services, including strategy assessment, strategic planning and funding strategies research.

She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Eastern Michigan University and her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Cincinnati. Keller was named on the Cincinnati Business Courier’s “Forty Under Forty” list. She will relocate with her family to the Martinsville-Henry County area for her new role.

Founded in 2002, The Harvest Foundation seeks investments for economic development in the Martinsville-Henry County area. Since its inception, it has put more than $134 million in grant funding into the community. In early June, it invested $1 million in the Virginia 30 Day Fund to launch a new relief initiative to aid small businesses in Martinsville and Henry County suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.