Katia Albanese is a communications and government affairs professional with more than 15 years of experience conceptualizing and implementing public education and awareness campaigns, with extensive experience in the national disability employment policy arena. She boasts extensive experience in project management and strategic communications, and is uniquely skilled at forging effective public/private partnerships to leverage resources and amplify messages around key disability employment policy issues at the federal and state levels, including career readiness, return-to-work/stay-at-work strategies, accessible and emerging technologies, transportation, federal employment, entrepreneurship, procurement and veterans affairs.

As a program manager for Concepts Communications, Katia is responsible for developing, overseeing and expanding initiatives, which includes strategic planning and the management of project work plans and activities, including partner development and management, project implementation from start to finish, and quality control of all deliverables. She currently leads the Concepts Communications teams in support of several U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy initiatives: the State Exchange on Employment & Disability (SEED), the Employer Assistance and Resource Network for Disability Inclusion (EARN), the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) and ePolicyWorks.

In previous years, managed the Concepts Communications team in support of several collaborative initiatives, including America’s Heroes at Work, DOL-funded public education and anti-stigma campaign that included dozens of federal agency partners with a focus on improving the employment outcomes of returning service members with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as the DOL-U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HIV/AIDS Employment Initiative, and the DOL-U.S. Department of Transportations’ Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative. She also lead DOL’s Accessible Technology in the Workplace initiative, and two Web development projects for DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs. Past responsibilities have also included the management of outreach campaigns on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Community Transportation Association of America.

In addition, Katia led the Concepts Communications team in support of DOL’s Compliance Assistance Initiative and was instrumental in the development and promotion of several compliance tools, including the elaws (Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses) Advisors and the Department’s Employment Law Guide. In recognition of her service, she received Secretary of Labor’s Compliance Assistance Award of Excellence.

Prior to joining Concepts Communications, Katia was the vice president of marketing and business development for CMSCO Associates, a Washington, D.C., government affairs consulting firm. She also provided consulting services on defense and technology issues to American Defense International, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm.

Katia graduated from American University with a bachelor of science in business administration with a concentration in finance.