Cathy Koch joined The Peterson Foundation as Vice President, Tax Policy In September 2024.

Prior to Peterson, Cathy spent more than 12 years at EY, where she served as Americas Tax Policy Leader and Global Sustainability Tax Leader, a practice she founded.

Cathy also has extensive public sector experience. She served as Chief Policy Advisor for Tax and Economics to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  She also led business outreach for the Leader and the Democratic Caucus. Cathy’s prior experience on the Hill included working on the Finance Committee, first as Staff Director for the Finance Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure, and then as the Tax Chief of the full committee.  During her tenure at Senate Finance, Cathy led the tax team on critical legislation including the 2008 financial rescue, the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Affordable Care Act.  

In addition to her experience on Capitol Hill, Cathy recently served as Special Advisor at the Department of Energy.

Her private sector experience also includes serving as Director of U.S. Tax Policy for General Electric and Director of Global Government Affairs at Amgen, Inc. 

Cathy started her tax career as an economist at the Joint Committee on Taxation. She spent 4 years at the Joint Committee after an internship she started while doing her PhD in economics at Georgetown University.

Cathy also taught at Georgetown’s Public Policy School and is currently on the Board of Advisors.