Katy Hollister is a seasoned global leader and financial expert with nearly four decades of leadership experience at Deloitte, one of the world’s largest global consultancies. She is currently on the board and audit committee of First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR). Throughout her career, Katy has designed and driven strategic initiatives and led operations across Deloitte’s most important businesses. Most recently, Katy served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the $8 billion Global Tax and Legal practice of 45,000 professionals. In this role, she led the integration of dozens of global practices, a massive undertaking that included a technology transformation in a complex environment of multi-jurisdictional regulatory, talent and brand management.
Katy is a natural coach and leader whose style is anchored in her genuine enjoyment of collective problem solving and decision-making. A strategic and systems thinker, Katy thrives in high-stakes environments when circumstances are changing or ambiguous, multiple stakeholders are involved, and competing short- and long-term goals are at play. Katy’s operational experience includes 17 years leading progressively larger businesses for Deloitte, ultimately owning a $1.5 billion P&L and leading a team of approximately 5,000 professionals in the U.S. and India. A licensed CPA and lawyer, her extensive client work has included public and private companies primarily in the manufacturing and consumer products sectors.
Katy has a proven governance track record and financial acumen, with experience overseeing executive succession, culture, risk management, M&A (including integration), and finance/investment strategy. Based on the breadth of her experience and her direct yet diplomatic approach to resolving complex challenges, Katy was selected by her partners to serve two terms on both the Deloitte U.S. and Global Boards of Directors. Her tenure on these boards was punctuated by planned and unplanned chair and CEO successions, as well as multiple business crises including a cyber incident, significant litigation and domestic and global regulatory matters. Board leadership roles included serving as US Board Vice-Chair, Chair of the Global, Governance and Global CEO/Chairman Evaluation Committees and member of the US Chairman/CEO succession, Governance Modernization, Strategic Investments, Finance & Audit, Risk, and Earnings and Benefits committees.
Katy is passionate about organizations and industries with bold, transformative missions related to life sciences, healthcare, the environment and education. In addition to having served on the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center HR Committee, she is a current member of Duke’s Research Translation and Commercialization Advisory Group.
Katy has been an active community leader, serving multiple academic and charitable organizations. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Duke University, where she also serves as Vice-Chair of the Audit Committee, and the University of Cincinnati Foundation. She also serves on the boards of MENTOR and the Cincinnati Museum Center. She has served on many other Cincinnati-based charitable board roles including the YWCA and Habitat for Humanity.
A mentor and trusted advisor to executives both inside and outside of Deloitte, she has been profiled by the AICPA, Duke University, University of Cincinnati, and YWCA. She has a JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University. Katy was one of the first women to complete the Harvard Women on Boards program.
