Ms. Lauderdale is the chief legal officer of PBS and manages the Office of the General Counsel, which includes the Legal, Business Affairs and Government Affairs departments, as well as the Corporate Secretary’s Office. The Legal Department provides a wide range of services with respect to intellectual property, transactional, litigation, communications law, labor, corporate and other legal matters. The Business Affairs Department, among other things, structures and negotiates content agreements for PBS programming services. Government Affairs provides legislative and regulatory advice to the corporation and manages its relations on Capitol Hill.
As Corporate Secretary, Katherine is responsible for oversight of board affairs, including governance and compliance functions. Prior to joining PBS in June of 2002, Katherine was Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and General Counsel at WTTW in Chicago, where she served in various legal, business and business affairs capacities for many years. Katherine is a graduate of The Ohio State University and New York University School of Law. She began her legal career as an associate at the Chicago law firm of Schiff, Hardin & Waite.