Advisory Board – Kitty Kurth

Kitty Kurth, the President of Kurth Lampe Worldwide, is a globally recognized public relations specialist and political strategist. She travels nationally and internationally to provide strategic communications, message development, media training, crisis management, and political guidance for political candidates, corporations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and groups dedicated to human rights and environmental causes.

Kurth has served in prominent roles on numerous American presidential campaigns—including Press Secretary, Campaign Manager, and Communications Adviser—and works every four years with speakers at the Democratic National Convention, where she directed the Speaker Trackers team for Convention Podium Operations in 2012. Her background includes extensive advance work globally for the White House having served: President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Second Lady Jill Biden, President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and Second Lady Tipper Gore. Her campaign portfolio also includes work for presidential candidates Senator John Kerry, Senator John Edwards, Governor Michael Dukakis, Senator Paul Tsongas, Ambassador and Senator Carol Moseley Braun, as well as various celebrity surrogates. Additionally, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, the Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe-winning social justice rapper, brought Kurth back to Chicago to manage his maiden run for public office.

Her work reaches across more than 45 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and dozens of countries, including Egypt, France, Russia, Uganda, Mexico, Rwanda, Greece, Croatia, Romania, India, Indonesia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands. On behalf of the U.S. State Department, she has conducted campaign-training and communications workshops in Uganda, Indonesia, and India for candidates, Members of Parliament, students, and activists. As the Senior Communications and Strategy Advisor for the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation—created by human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero depicted in the Academy Award-nominated film Hotel Rwanda—Kurth has helped elevate the organization into a global voice for truth and reconciliation in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. She is also the architect of numerous grassroots campaigns that have successfully reshaped media coverage and government positions on critical social justice issues.

Earlier in her career, prior to the era of internet organizing, Kurth established The Concord Coalition for Senator Paul Tsongas and Senator Warren Rudman, building 50 chapters and recruiting 250,000 members in just six weeks. She also served at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), where she trained Congressional Press Secretaries and advised top-tier congressional races on communications and fundraising. A seasoned speaker and widely quoted political commentator, she regularly appears on global radio and television programs and has lectured at institutions including the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the University of Akron Bliss Institute of Politics, and Columbia College. Kurth remains in high demand as a political communications trainer for organizations such as the Civic Lab, Illinois Democratic Women, New Leaders Council, Chicago Votes, DCCC, DNC, Emily’s List – National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Campaign Fund, and international political parties. She holds a degree from the University of Virginia and lives in Chicago with her husband and business partner, Kevin Lampe.