As Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, Kate Wilhelm leads strategic planning in conjunction with founder Larry Ceisler, while managing a portfolio of clients.  

Kate’s expertise assists clients with reputation management, community affairs and messaging strategy. She works directly with many of Ceisler Media’s corporate clients, developing and executing integrated communications approaches that advance their issues.   

Kate works with some of the Philadelphia region’s most important and admired corporations, such as Comcast and Independence Blue Cross, as well as emerging businesses and leading nonprofit organizations.   

Kate was promoted to Chief Operating Officer early in 2020, after joining Ceisler Media as Director in 2017. She has helped oversee the firm’s growth and a renewed vision across the firm’s offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. And she has focused on increasing capabilities and partnerships to position Ceisler Media to create fully integrated, focused campaigns.  

Kate’s practice has always been to cultivate relationships with leading local and national businesses. As senior vice president of business development and external affairs at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, she built and managed relationships with national and local partners to raise awareness, engage new audiences and provide financial support for the legacy organization that produces the Philadelphia Flower Show. As a consultant, Kate developed strategic plans for clients including the Philadelphia Film Society and the Please Touch Museum.  

Her executive career began when Kate served as executive director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy. There, she oversaw efforts to increase and diversify financial support for the park system. She managed the completion of an $8.1 million campaign to finish the restoration of the Water Works South Garden and Cliffside; facilitated development of a master plan for Hunting Park in North Philadelphia; and negotiated the reopening of the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center with the City of Philadelphia.  

Kate serves as a board member of the Parkway Council, where she chairs the Advocacy Committee, and chairs the Communications Committee on the Board of Directors of MANNA, which works to revolutionize healthcare with nutrition interventions.  

A native of Atco, N.J., she attended Rutgers University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science. Kate lives in Voorhees, N.J., with her daughter, Elizabeth Chimicles.