Executive Leadership

With 25 years of experience transforming the way companies engage with their markets, their customers, and their employees, Catherine LaCour is a highly effective, seasoned executive, versatile business growth strategist, innovator and empathetic leader who has built and promoted global technology brands to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and customer loyalty. She has successfully accomplished this for public, private and nonprofit organizations by delivering an outstanding experience for customers throughout their entire life cycle, including nurturing, engagement, value realization, renewal, and ultimately helping them achieve their mission.

Catherine serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Blackbaud, the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Blackbaud is one of the top 40 largest cloud software vendor worldwide. Catherine is responsible for Blackbaud’s global brand and marketing, corporate communications, and the company’s strategic go-to-market and retention functions. She is a passionate change agent focused on driving innovative business strategies and process improvements from ideation to implementation. Catherine also helms the Blackbaud Institute, which brings together the best minds in philanthropy to develop and share leading-edge research and insight that accelerates impact throughout the social good community.

During Catherine’s tenure, Blackbaud has been recognized by Forbes as a Best Midsize Employers for four years in a row and as one of the Best Employers for Diversity and for Women. In 2017, Fortune named Blackbaud to the Fortune 2017 Change the World List, which recognizes 56 leading companies that are driving positive social impact through business innovation. Catherine was named one of the 2021 Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council and DiversityFIRST™ for her commitment to championing diversity and closing the gender gap in the technology industry.

Catherine has a Master of Business Administration from American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) and a Bachelor of Science in Business from the College of Charleston. A Charleston native, she currently serves on the Coastal Community Foundation Board of Directors and chairs the Marketing and Communications Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Refugee Commission, a non-profit advocating for laws, policies and programs to improve the lives and protect the rights of refuge women and children and chairs the External Relations Committee. South Carolina Secretary Bobby Hitt invited her to serve on the state Department of Commerce’s Council for Innovation Initiatives. The primary responsibility of the council is to contribute insights that impact strategic decisions, resulting in an accelerated flow of technology and information among people, industries and institutions in South Carolina’s technology sector.

With career experience on the front lines of social good innovation across the public, private and social sectors, Catherine brings deep passion for the role every person and organization can play in building a better world. She challenges herself and those around her to cultivate an ecosystem of good and strengthen the social economy, and is a sought-after speaker for major platforms, including TEDx, the Social Innovation Summit, and more. Catherine has also been chosen as a member of the select Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit community.

In 2017, Catherine was named a Fellow by Liberty Fellowship, a South Carolina leadership initiative. Liberty Fellowship is part of The Aspen [Institute] Global Leadership Network, a worldwide community of leaders from business, government and the nonprofit sectors who share a commitment to enlightened leadership and to using their creativity, energy and resources to tackle the foremost societal challenges of our times.