Dr Kate De Jong

Dr Kate De Jong is a business strategy and planning facilitator who has worked with corporations, government utilities, not-for-profits and small businesses across Australia, the Netherlands and the USA.

Kate spent twelve years in technical practice, both as a research scientist and as a consultant with Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), where she designed and facilitated strategic planning workshops for Water Corporation, Hunter Water and SA Water, as well as several water utilities in the Netherlands. That work taught her how to bring technical teams, executives and stakeholders to a shared plan they could act on.

Her PhD in Bioprocess Engineering gives her a rigorous data-driven, analytical approach to problems. Her Diploma of Coaching gives her the skills to work with the people inside them. In a workshop she brings both: she can hold the detail and read the room.

Kate also facilitates workshops in data fundamentals and data-driven decision making, most recently for the Public Sector Commission. These sessions are for people who use data without producing it: reading a report, tracing where its numbers came from, recognising the errors that most often mislead, and knowing when an analysis answers the question actually being asked. Her years in research, where conclusions had to survive scrutiny, are what let her teach the subject without retreating into technique.

In the not-for-profit sector, Kate has an ongoing relationship with Saltbush Social Enterprises, an Indigenous not-for-profit in Darwin. Having grown up in the Pilbara in her early years, she has a long-standing commitment to supporting Indigenous organisations. She has also worked with 20Talk, a mental health charity, and several organisations in the NDIS sector.

Her current role as a business coach for small businesses (katedejong.com) has honed her skills in helping organisations plan strategically for success, develop clear goals and create actionable implementation plans. She has a unique ability to create clarity and meaningful pathways forward for her clients.

Kate developed The Business Builder's Master Plan™, a structured framework for small business growth, and co-founded Fempire, a franchise coaching platform for female founders, and created its Business Building Blueprint, which is still used to certify business coaches across Australia.

She is a published author of the book "Seeds of a Calling" and a TEDx speaker, having delivered "Do What Makes You Come Alive" on finding work that fits the person doing it.

Academic Qualifications:

- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Bioprocess Engineering
- Bachelor of Science (BSc) with First Class Honours (Hons)
- Diploma of Coaching (Australian Institute of Coaching)

Psychometric Testing Accreditations:

- Accredited Harrison Assessments
- Debriefing and Coaching
- Employee Development
- Accredited B.A.N.K. Personality Coding Methodology, Codebreaker Technologies LLC