Katelyn Coghlan

Program Engagement Director

Katelyn works to ensure that the institutions who purchase with CPA are connected to the co-op, our mission, and each other.

Prior to her work at CPA, Katelyn worked on dozens of advocacy and electoral campaigns to shift who holds money and power in our country. Her career began as an organizer protecting public lands, fighting climate change, and registering voters. Understanding that we need to radically increase political participation in our country for things to change, Katelyn became an early expert in "distributed organizing" models that work to harness the power of large national volunteer bases and organize them on behalf of candidates and nonprofits. Katelyn oversaw organizing programs during the 2018 and 2020 elections cycles that knocked over 3 million doors, made over 20 million calls, and wrote over 1 million handwritten letters. She has experience recruiting, hiring, and managing large diverse teams in high-pressure environments -- and loves seeing people do what they're good at. Most recently, Katelyn was the Political Director at a progressive antitrust organization where she worked to level the playing field for small businesses and consumers.

Katelyn enjoys working at CPA because the co-op is a living example of how people - when organized and connected - can create economic models that center our communities. When not working, you can likely find her by a body of water, with her head in a fiction book, or watching birds in her backyard. 

Katelyn holds degrees in International Studies (B.A.) and Environmental Studies (B.A.) from Loyola University Chicago.