Katherine Jacobs is CEO Emeritus of NPAG and Founder & Principal of GDSI Leadership, a spin and expansion of her search practice at NPAG. GDSI provides consulting support for governance, design, search, and interim leadership needs of mission-driven organizations navigating change.

For over 20 years, Katherine led NPAG’s growth and client service as Partner and CEO. A psychologist and academic by training, she is an innovator and entrepreneur at heart. Katherine built NPAG to introduce a new model of executive search for mission-driven organizations—tailored to client needs, human-centered for candidates and clients, and grounded in values and purpose. Her work has supported nonprofits and philanthropies through pivotal transitions, driving transformative team and coalition building, board succession planning and development, and executive placements that diversify and strengthen the social sector.

Katherine brings integrated expertise in executive search, organizational development, and change management. She specializes in strategic role and team design, leadership transition processes that build stakeholder alignment, and competency-based assessment techniques for reliable placement outcomes.

Outside of work, Katherine is a proud mom of two teenagers and enjoys music, nature, and animals from her 1840s farmhouse in Loudoun County, Virginia. A Fulbright scholar, avid traveler, and former U.S. State Department community member, she has lived and worked in five countries. She speaks conversational German and basic Russian and Greek. Katherine earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester while training as a classical cellist at the Eastman School of Music and holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Georgetown University.