Kristen is a life-long Ohio resident who utilizes her background and experience to lead community and economic development projects across the Mid-West region. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Youngstown State University, a Master of Applied Politics for the University of Akron and ABD in Public Policy. She founded KO Consulting in 2012 while working full-time as the Grants Coordinator for the Mahoning County Sanitary Engineering Department. Those early years of KO Consulting, LLC consisted of working to develop and receive funding for small non-profit organizations. During her time at Mahoning County, she handled millions of dollars in grant applications annually, completed compliance/reporting, as well as managed the Davis Bacon/ Prevailing wage activities of the department.

In Fall of 2020, Kristen left her job with the county to pursue growing KO Consulting, LLC full-time. To date we have over 35 clients and have brought in over $50 million in funding for our clients since 2020. Kristen/ KO is actively developing/assisting multiple organizations aimed at bringing economic development and growth back to the mid-west region.

In addition to KO Consulting, Kristen is a Partner of Blue Phoenix Strategies, which provides campaign consulting for political organizations/candidates throughout the United States. Kristen also serves as the immediate past chair of the YWCA Mahoning Valley, a member of the American Association of Political Consultants, a board member of Youngstown Prosperity, among many other community serving roles.

Kristen’s work has been recognized from various organizations throughout the year(s), having been a YWCA of Mahoning Valley Board Member of the Year twice, recognized as a Mahoning Valley 25 under 35 twice, a 2023 Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber Athena nominee and most recently the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber 2024 Business Advocate of the Year.