Kate Tavella Named Top Woman in Communications by Ragan Communications
Blank Rome is pleased to announce that Kate Tavella, the firm's Senior Director of Communications, was named a Top Woman in Communications by Ragan Communications.
The Top Women in Communications Awards honorees represent the "female communications leaders who are mentors to future generations" and "hold truth to power when necessary." Kate was recognized in the Bridge Builders category, honoring her commitment to forging meaningful internal and external stakeholder connections.
All of the Top Women in Communcations honorees were celebrated at an awards luncheon in New York City on February 28, 2023.
To view all of the Top Women in Communcations Awards honorees, please click here.
Kate's honoree profile, as published by Ragan Communications, is copied in full below.
Kate Tavella
Senior Director of Communications
Blank Rome LLP
Collaboration internally and externally is key for Blank Rome’s Tavella
Kate Tavella forges relationships with internal and external stakeholders to launch new initiatives at Blank Rome LLP. She’s an honoree in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.
Kate Tavella may not live by every letter of the law … but she has good reason. To build a communications strategy at the Am Law 100 ranked Blank Rome firm, with 14 offices and more than 600 attorneys and principals, you sometimes have to stretch the limitations. As senior director of communications, Tavella is called upon by the firm’s leadership, attorneys, and administrative professionals to strategize and implement communications plans — from firm policies to lateral onboarding, client initiatives, community engagement and event planning. Recognizing her strategic PR insight, attorneys bring Tavella into the conversation to navigate crisis situations and advise on communications … and promote big wins. She also manages the firm’s relationship with its external PR agency and other vendors, ensuring their efforts are aligned with the firm’s strategic business plan.
“Kate [Tavella] is an integral member of our Blank Rome family. She has shepherded our firm — and its leadership — through major milestones during her tenure,” said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s Chair and Managing Partner. “She is an authentic communicator who understands the importance of remaining genuine when promoting our firm and sharing our stories with media, our clients, and the legal industry. Kate is a highly valued member of our firm.”
Among those milestones:
- Spearheading communications and programming for the firm’s first in-person All-Attorney Retreat in over a decade.
- Program development for the firm’s annual Women’s Leadership Summit, bringing together the firm’s women attorneys, top clients and women industry leaders for networking and professional growth initiatives.
- An integral member of Blank Rome’s Covid-19 Taskforce, formed in March 2020, to navigate the pandemic for both the firm’s professionals and clients.
- In 2019, when Grant Palmer took over as Blank Rome’s managing partner and CEO, and then again when he became chair and managing partner in 2023, Tavella guided the firm’s communications strategy, securing coverage in key publications and ensuring a smooth leadership transition.
- Led the comms strategy and integration of 100+ attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro when they joined Blank Rome in 2016, the firm’s largest transaction in its 75-year history. She managed the needs of internal teams, clients and reporters, ultimately securing coverage in national and regional legal media markets.
Says Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer James Stapleton, “After 35 years of leading marketing efforts at seven major professional services firms, I can honestly say Kate is the finest communications leader I have ever met. Her ability to coax the best communications from the broadest variety of people is exceptional.”