Meet The Team

Katy Lenard

Associate Vice President

A writer, editor and media strategist, Katy joined Burness in 2005. She garners high-level global news coverage for nonprofit organizations and foundations — both in the U.S. and around the world. Domestically, she writes for and has led communications campaigns for the Afterschool Alliance, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others.

Globally, she has delivered successful media and digital strategies for organizations such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and their Annual TropMed Meeting, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Aeras, TB Alliance, Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund and Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC).

Katy’s particular passion lies in gender equality and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and she’s been fortunate at Burness to work with organizations leading these efforts, including the International Partnership for Microbicides, Marie Stopes International, the International Women’s Health Coalition, the Population Council and the Global Early Adolescent Study — a partnership between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the World Health Organization and other institutions around the world.

A proud stickler for grammar and the AP Stylebook, Katy also manages and co-leads Burness’ copyediting team.

Prior to joining Burness, she was involved in medical campus organizing around issues of environmental health and nuclear non-proliferation at Physicians for Social Responsibility, a staff writer for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and a disc jockey for WMHC 91.5 FM in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts, where she studied psychology and film studies. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Katy lives in South Jersey with her husband, son and basset hound Kodak.

Back to Full Team

We Were Lucky Enough to Have Prenatal Care that Saved Our Lives. It Shouldn’t Be About Luck.

The problem is that maternal health care is inequitable. For most, whether you and your child live or die during the birthing process is not about need, or about your right to good health, but about who you are, where you come from and how much money you make.

Gendered Universes are Harming Young People Around the World — We Must Intervene Before It’s Too Late

The researchers say that adolescence should be seen as a window of opportunity--a time when young people are reevaluating their identities and behaviors. They can encounter certain gender stereotypes that can cause permanent physical, emotional and mental harm. But, if they are able to push back against these gender stereotypes, to break out of their gender-specific universes, they can emerge healthy, strong and self-confident.

Gender Equality Needs Boys

According to GEAS researchers, if we’re going to achieve gender equality, we must address conditions and stereotypes that are harmful to both girls and boys—and we must intervene much earlier, by at least age 10

Katy Lenard

Blogs by Katy

We Were Lucky Enough to Have Prenatal Care that Saved Our Lives. It Shouldn’t Be About Luck.

Gendered Universes are Harming Young People Around the World — We Must Intervene Before It’s Too Late

Gender Equality Needs Boys