Cathleen Otero is the Chief Operating Officer at the Orange County Community Foundation. Cathleen brings more than 20 years of experience in supporting health and human service organizations through collaboration, coalition building, and strategic planning to improve performance and better serve vulnerable populations.
In her role of COO, Cathleen focuses on building operational excellence by improving internal processes, workflows, procedures, and systems while building a high-performing culture. She is responsible for cultivating and growing administrative and operational systems, as well as serving as a change leader and strategic advisor for work related to operations, donor relations, and community engagement.
Cathleen has been a member of the Orange County Grantmakers Board of Directors, including serving as Board Chair. Prior to joining OCCF she served as the Deputy Director of the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare at Children and Family Futures. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and both her Master of Public Administration and Master of Social Work degrees from the University of Southern California.
