KD Consulting

If your latest product launch fell flat, you have difficulty finding quality talent, or you’re simply working to improve your team’s output – KD Consulting can help find practical solutions to create a comprehensive plan to deliver quality product from an engaged team.

Through team review and mediation, KD Consulting coaches Founders and Executive Leadership on the design and implementation of operational tools and procedures, supporting strategic growth. It is now ever more important that the leather industry captivates an audience that believes in and understands the great value our product delivers. This can be challenging, when we are up against stricter standards, new legislative demands, economic pressures, and evolving employee expectations.

It can be overwhelming to produce a beautiful product that showcases its responsibility for the environment, grows the business, all the while empowering our employees. We can’t do it all at once – but we can strategize how we leverage unique strengths of each team, product, and facility to build a system that amplifies what already exists, while minimizing the obstacles. Implementing strategy is like starting a new exercise program; consistency is key, imperfect action is vital, and then practice, practice, practice until you fine-tune the method that delivers.

Katie Kutskill, the Founder of KD Consulting, understands the intricacies of the global leather industry. Traditionally trained as an Environmental Studies and Political Science major from the University of Michigan, she worked for nearly a decade in automotive leather, all while completing her MSc in Leather Technology at the University of Northampton. She graduated with distinction after completing her master’s Thesis: “Determining Accuracy in the Comparison of Environmental Assessments of Leather Through Meta-Analysis.”

Katie has experience leading teams in product development, sales, and operations, with her latest role in automotive leather as Executive Global Director of Product Development & Sustainability Officer at Pangea. She spent over two years working closely with the Sustainable Leather Foundation as their Advisory Board Chair and Technical Director, intimately understanding the international scope of the leather industry outside of automotive. Katie has the breadth and depth to approach strategy in a way that is feasible, actionable, and empowering. She enjoys the opportunity to work for an industry that has given her so much.