About Catherine
Catherine Soileau Heitman is a public affairs practitioner with extensive experience in issues and reputation management, government agency transformation, and disaster and crisis response.
Through her work in multiple state agencies and corporate consulting, Catherine has played a key role in driving public awareness and engagement campaigns around some of society’s most pressing issues with strategies that include:
- Writing
- Earned Media Campaigns
- Strategic Communications
- Media Relations
- Presentations and Speeches
- Digital Communications and Social Media
- Crisis and Disaster Communications
Experience
Catherine started her career as a staffer in the U.S. Senate and has since helped guide the communication efforts of organizations that include: Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, Louisiana Recovery Authority, University of Louisiana System, Louisiana Department of Education, Louisiana Office of Youth Development (now Office of Juvenile Justice), Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, LED FastStart (a program of La. Economic Development), Louisiana Public Facilities Authority and Community Coffee Company.
Media Relations
Catherine has engaged with journalists at local, state, national and international news media organizations, incuding The Associated Press, The Times-Picayune, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, NBC News, CNN and many others.
Disaster and Crisis Communication
Catherine’s disaster communication experience began with hurricanes Katrina and Rita and continued years later with Louisiana’s innovative shelter and food aid operations following the compound disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic and a punishing string of major hurricanes. The response and targeted digital communication strategies she and her team developed have served as national models and formed the basis of the agency’s response to incidents involving cybersecurity breaches, wildfire emergencies and other crises.
Digital Communication
Catherine has played a key role in agency digital transformation and the effective communication needed for its success. She helped lead a state agency’s increased used of digital communication as a way of better serving the public. The agency’s use of targeted text communications, innovative internet features and social media campaigns provided updates about vital resources when they were needed most. The approach, in part, led to a national Government Changemaker Award from Code for America.
See Catherine’s full profile here.