Photo by Ray Lavoie
Katrina Plourde
Katrina Plourde gives a lot of herself to the people, places and organizations she cares about.
As a humble leader and unofficial community ambassador, helping people is in her DNA, as shown through the profession she went into and how she chooses to spend her free time.
Plourde earned a new role as president of the Rotary Club of Westerville and is taking over in July.
Ellen Cathers, the 2020-21 club president, says Plourde has good energy and fresh ideas.
“I would describe Katrina as the up-and-coming next generation of leadership. She’s bright, talented, engaged and she really can see the big picture,” Cathers says. “There's a lot of pieces and projects within Rotary and she has a tremendous grasp on the whole thing … and she's always very thoughtful and thought-provoking.”
Living and learning
In her day job, Plourde is the human resources director for the Westerville Public Library. She’s been in the HR department at the library for almost 11 years, and the director for the last five.
“I knew I wanted to be in HR because I love spreadsheets, and I love people,” Plourde says. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, I can do both in HR.’ So I’ve always kind of known that that was what I wanted to do.”
Starting out her career private industries like retail and heavy equipment, she happened upon the job at the library when her position in retail wasn’t working out. It turned out to be “the perfect fit.”
“The whole vibe here of education and learning and just growing the community really fit with me and I was like, ‘Why didn't I think of this before?’ Nobody ever told me,” she says. “But that's also partly why now I have a mission to spread the word about careers in libraries, because it's awesome and more people should know about it.”
As an adjunct professor at Franklin University, the education vibe really does fit Plourde’s life. There, she’s been teaching human resource courses at the undergraduate and graduate level for 13 years.
Involved in it all
Plourde grew up in Maine and attended Cedarville University for her undergraduate degree in business management. She earned her master’s in human resources at The Ohio State University.
She moved back home for a short while, but then found that many job opportunities were in Ohio. Since coming back to the Buckeye State, she hasn’t left. Instead, her family has joined her.
Currently, one of her sisters and her two kids live with Plourde. Her niece and nephew – both students at Westerville North – have led her to get involved with the booster club.
Plourde seeks out many opportunities to get involved with a lot of things. She volunteers at the Columbus Dream Center with her church. She rode in Pelotonia for 10 years. She helps with the WARM Thanksgiving Blessing each year. Plus, she says she loves doing any 5K for a cause, like Rotary’s Independence Day 5K.
Many of her involvements surround her work in human resources. For 13 years, Plourde was on the Ohio Human Resource Conference planning committee. She’s been on the HR committee of the United Way of Central Ohio for nine years and, since 2013, she has been on the Ohio Library Council’s HR committee.
She’s been impactful in her role at the library, helping it win the 2021 SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace, which awarded its commitment to pay equity.
“She’s the HR director, but she's done a lot of work for making us a more sustainable employer, (such as) pay equity, getting sustainable wages for staff as well as mental health support,” Erin Francoeur, Westerville Library executive director, says. “So everything from extending benefits to part-time staff, and things like offering our employee assistance program to our part-time staff to better (pay) – we went up to a living wage two years ago from close to the minimum.”
For Plourde, the main job of human resources is “really about caring for staff.”
The four-way test
After roughly five years in Rotary, Plourde has been in training to take on the duty of president for the past year. She’s been planning and creating goals for herself and the club based on the Rotary’s seven focus areas.
“That's been a very interesting, strategic kind of process to think about,” she says. “Where can we have the most impact? And, what's not getting enough help from us?”
In her time with the Rotary, she says she’s learned about the power of partnerships and making connections to extend the organization’s impact locally.
“We started doing more projects with other local community groups and that just amplifies the power,” she says. “So we would join Habitat for Humanity and Habitat’s doing a project they need extra volunteers and hands.”
Plourde is always willing to help, to lend a hand or to be a volunteer.
“The reasons to do it are immense. There's people in need, and there's people who don't have access to the same things that everyone else does,” she says. “And so from an equity standpoint, it just makes sense to kind of try to share what you have.”
Claire Miller is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at cmiller@cityscenemediagroup.com.
