Humans of Kellogg: E&W Student Katie McCarthy, Chief of Staff to the CEO, GoFundMe
- Cathy Campo
- Jan 24
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 18
By: Nika Chugh, Staff Writer
Right Place, Right Time, Right Mission
For many Kellogg students, the title “Chief of Staff to the CEO” sounds like a dream job, one that many of us come here to find (guilty as charged!).
When I sat down with Katie McCarthy, a current Evening & Weekend student, to ask about her journey to the role, she joked, “I think every former management consultant secretly wants to be a Chief of Staff,” but ultimately categorized the opportunity as a case of “right place, right time.”
In the fall of 2023, Katie was looking for a new opportunity and had asked a former boss that worked at GoFundMe to keep an eye out for any relevant openings. Turns out, the company was
looking for someone to work on internal operations and bring together the consumer and software sides of their business. Katie had tons of experience in operations work from her previous roles as a consultant and in strategic operations at PayPal, so she went ahead and met the GoFundMe leadership team. A few great meetings later, and Katie had the job.
“We realized pretty quickly that my scope should be company-wide as we were thinking about the best ways to combine operating rhythms and strategy. Within the year, I moved to report directly to the CEO who asked me to continue this work,” she told The Kelloggian.
When asked about the Chief of Staff role in particular, Katie highlighted the ambiguity of the role.
“The scope of Chiefs of Staff is highly dependent on who your principal is (AKA, the executive you’re reporting into/supporting), what they need, and what your organization needs. That being said, people who work in strategic operations, business operations, program management—they can all be Chiefs of Staff.”
One key difference Katie made clear was the nature of the relationship between the two parties involved.
“It’s a closer relationship. You, by definition, are associated with your principal. I mean, it's clear by the title, right? I’m Chief of Staff to the CEO. Whereas, if you were Head of Operations or another role, there is more distance. So, the working relationship is absolutely key. The Chief of Staff is a relationship-first, influence-based role.”
Helping People Help Each Other
As I would soon learn, Katie’s journey with GoFundMe actually started much earlier than her first round of interviews. In August of 2021, Katie’s brother-in-law had been in a water accident that left him quadriplegic.
“He was in a medically-induced coma, undergoing several surgeries over six weeks. During this time, my sister-in-law, Sarah, was completely consumed by all of the medical questions of his care. They were only 24 years old, so she had to think through questions they had never thought to discuss with each other. It was an exceptionally stressful time for her and also a potentially very expensive time that they were not prepared for. So my husband and I decided to take over fundraising to help support them on this journey.”
This is where GoFundMe enters the picture for the first time. Katie and her husband set up a GoFundMe page to support their brother-in-law’s care. He was a firefighter, so they enlisted his Fire Department Chief for support in reaching out to local media to share his story. Through this outreach and the GoFundMe page, Katie and her family were able to raise over $100,000 online and an additional $50,000 through local events in the community. Each year, they continue this legacy through a fundraiser to raise money for Shirley Ryan, where he was rehabilitated.
Today, Katie’s brother-in-law is a paralympic rugby player and recently welcomed a baby with his wife. A few years later, Katie herself would join GoFundMe as an employee, enabling the very work that had changed the landscape of her family’s life.
“GoFundMe was the only tool we had to activate that many people. The community that he was part of was willing to support him, and they were so generous in a way that was life-changing. The only way we could be empowered to take those steps was through the technology that GoFundMe offers.
I hear stories like ours from our customers every day. GoFundMe’s mission is to ‘help people help each other,’ and I feel very fortunate to be able to serve that mission. Coming to GoFundMe feels both professionally meaningful and deeply connected to my family’s personal journey.”
What a truly full-circle moment.
Scale vs. Complexity
Katie came to Kellogg in the Spring of 2025 to answer the question I’m sure many of us are asking—what’s next?
“A common narrative for Chiefs of Staff is that they have exposure to the executive team, but may not necessarily be in a position to become an executive themselves at that point in time.
The way I like to think about my next step in my career is within a two-matrix system—either accelerating in terms of scale or in terms of complexity. Currently, my scope has high complexity, as I work with teams all across the organization. I could theoretically move to a larger organization, but stay within one function, and increase my scale. Or, outside of this framework, I could pivot and instead, choose a function and develop my expertise there. But I don’t know what’s right for me yet.”
What drew Katie to Kellogg was the opportunity to facilitate this exploration, taking advantage of all the resources at her disposal, such as the Career Management Center.
“Having some space, structure, and support to think about what’s next has been very helpful. I’m not in a hurry to transition but having all of these resources available to support that decision has been great.”
Katie also reflected on how immediately applicable the coursework has been, enabling her to take learnings from the classroom directly into her day-to-day work.
“I’ve been surprised at how open professors are to sit down with you to give real-time feedback on workplace challenges. I’ve gone in and said, ‘I’m not sure how to structure this meeting or approach this issue,’ and they’ve all been incredibly generous with their support and time. It has been transformative.”
Bringing Mission to Kellogg
One of the opportunities that Katie has taken advantage of at Kellogg is as a Golub Capital Board Fellow. The Board Fellows program pairs Kellogg MBA students with nonprofits for board service opportunities, providing key insight into the reality of nonprofit board governance.
Katie was drawn to the Board Fellows program due to her previous experience starting a nonprofit organization as an undergrad at Indiana University.
“I was really excited by the prospect that nonprofit service could be part of my business education. I also work for a company that serves nonprofits, so I wanted to learn more about how they operated to better serve our customers.”
Katie is paired with Green City Market, the largest nonprofit farmers market in Chicago. I’m sure most of you have heard of it—you’ll definitely catch me hitting up the Lincoln Park farmer’s market on a summer Saturday.
“My grandparents and great-grandparents were farmers, so my family has always been very motivated to shop locally and support local food ecosystems. Because of this, I felt very aligned to Green City Market and their mission of supporting sustainable farmers and educating the community.”
Katie’s focus during her time as a Board Fellow will be on supporting Green City Market’s fundraising efforts to further their community mission. Katie joked, “I guess I’m just a fundraiser now!” nodding to both her day-to-day role and her Board Fellows work. I definitely agree!
Seize the Day
To finish up our chat, I asked Katie if she had any advice for aspiring Chiefs of Staff and incoming Kellogg students. For aspiring Chiefs of Staff, she recommends honing in on skills of influence and communication (hello MORS!) and finding authentic career relationships.
For Kellogg students, she had one piece of advice: be opportunistic.
“Follow your interests and curiosity. The Kellogg student body is often full of plan-oriented people, but the best opportunities in my life have come from thinking—’hey, that sounds interesting. Let’s try it.’ The ability to let go of what you thought was true and embrace what’s right in front of you is a powerful mindset. It can bring you opportunities that you never expected to have.”
So, fellow Kellogg students, let’s embrace Katie’s advice and truly seize the day. Who knows what awaits us around the corner? Read About More Humans of Kellogg: Paige Kotecki (E&W, Kroger) and Ryan Kitchel (E&W, PepsiCo) Chevy Chen (Kellogg E&W) United Airlines Radhika Jajoo (2Y ‘26): Raised by a Village of Women Isabelle Hofgaertner (2Y '26), Former Nike Intern Thomas Reinhart (a JV who's a Boothie!) Keanan Crasto (2Y '27): The JV Who's Basically Doing Kellogg Twice John Gilmore (JV)