Katherine Ann Rowlands is a career journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area and the current president of Journalism & Women Symposium. She has worked as a wire service and daily newspaper reporter, an overseas correspondent, an editor and a journalism instructor.

Rowlands currently supervises a team of editors and reporters, overseeing all the local news coverage in Contra Costa and Alameda counties for Bay Area News Group, which includes the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and affiliated daily and weekly newspapers and web sites.  She previously served as a regional enterprise editor, working most closely with reporters covering the environment, local and state politics, growth and development, immigration and demographics, and transportation. Her favorite projects are the ones that involve research, collaboration, storytelling — and a scoop! Prior to her Bay Area post, she supervised the business section of The Tribune, the daily newspaper in San Luis Obispo County, including coverage of tourism, the local economy, small businesses, housing, technology, the wine industry and agriculture.

For several years, Rowlands taught journalism courses such as writing, media law and public opinion at California State University, East Bay. She also wrote for the Economist Intelligence Unit, Newsweek Magazine, The Financial Times, The Honduras Letter, Honduras This Week, Escuela Agricola Panamericana (Zamorano University), and Moscow Magazine while based overseas in Honduras, the Netherlands and England.

A Berkeley native, she earned degrees from Macalester College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and studied at the London School of Economics. She travels extensively with her two teenage children, Graeme and Chloe.

“I appreciate JAWS for its unique sense of camaraderie and professional support from other women who are committed to helping each other succeed. We find jobs for each other. We celebrate each other’s triumphs. We offer tips on writing, sourcing, pitching and teaching. It’s a unique and valuable network and I am so proud to see this organization thrive and grow.”