Katrina McGhee

Katrina McGhee, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer at the American Heart Association, is a best-selling author, award-winning podcast host and renowned speaker who has helped build and lead socially impactful nonprofit brands for over 25 years. Her acclaimed expertise — coupled with her personal passion for empowering people — has strengthened organizations and helped individuals take charge of their lives, health and careers.

At the American Heart Association, McGhee is responsible for storytelling, media outreach, community programs, marketing campaigns and numerous other approaches focused on equitable health and longer, healthier lives for all.

Her reputation for leading with enthusiasm and energy shines through as host of the award winning Live Fierce podcast and in her best-selling book, “BE BOLD BE BRILLIANT BE YOU: Lessons from the C-Suite to Accelerate Your Career.”

McGhee became the American Heart Association’s executive vice president for marketing and communications in early 2020, returning to the organization where she already had a long list of accomplishments years before. In between her two AHA stints, she served in executive leadership roles at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, founded her own academy to help empower women and advised executives as a strategic consultant and career coach.

In her previous term at the AHA, McGhee created the organization’s first national campaign focusing on women’s heart health, Take Wellness to Heart. That laid the groundwork for the AHA’s Go Red for Women movement, which has profoundly improved the knowledge of heart disease risks among women. She also led multicultural awareness initiatives and public-private partnerships that generated millions of dollars in annual revenue.

Before returning to the AHA, McGhee was a successful consultant and coach, guiding executives in strategic planning, brand building, fundraising and career development, with an emphasis on improving the lives of women, children and under-resourced communities.

At Susan G. Komen for the Cure, McGhee was executive vice president and chief marketing officer, responsible for global marketing, business development and cause marketing. She also oversaw more than 200 corporate partnerships and over 140 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Series events, helping raise more than $350 million in annual revenue.

McGhee earned her bachelor’s degree at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and her master’s in business administration at the University of Texas at Arlington. She is also a proud mom, GiGi, and dog mom to fur baby Romulus.