Catherine Butler is Central Piedmont Community College’s vice president of communications, advancement, and external engagement. In this role, she provides executive leadership and oversight for the college’s brand positioning and reputation, philanthropic and community affairs strategy, and stakehold engagement.
Butler is responsible for marketing, creative services, media relations, crisis communications, digital communications, employee and student communications, executive communications, and government affairs, as well as strategic direction for institutional advancement and the Central Piedmont Community College Foundation, plus oversight for WTVI-PBS Charlotte.
Prior to joining Central Piedmont in early 2025, Butler was the head of corporate communications and engagement and chief of staff to the president at Highline Warren, a national manufacturing and distribution company in the automotive industry. Butler built the communications function from the ground up, oversaw Highline Warren’s brand refresh efforts, and defined the company’s first integrated external communications and community engagement strategy. Before Highline Warren, she served as a principal consultant with Slalom, a tech-forward strategy and business consulting firm located in Charlotte, NC. She partnered with Fortune 500 companies to co-create digital transformation change management strategies and upskill teams in executive communications and reputation management.
Butler started her career at Duke Energy, where she spent nearly a decade. She held expanding leadership roles in corporate communications with a focus on crisis, financial, executive, and strategic communications. She received several national awards for her work on investor communications and the crisis response to the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill. She completed her chapter at Duke Energy as the director of corporate strategy and planning, driving alignment across the enterprise to execute the company’s long-term strategy. While at Duke Energy, she was recognized with a Top 30 Under 30 Future Leaders of Charlotte award and was named as an honoree for the Charlotte Athena Young Professional Leadership Award.
As a Charlotte native, Butler is passionate about causes that contribute to the vitality of the local community and support those who call this region home. She serves on the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance’s Advisory Council and Advocacy Committee, along with the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council Community Engagement Committee, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Charlotte. She is also actively involved with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation.
Butler graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications from Villanova University and completed Harvard Business School’s management development program. She currently serves as a Board member for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Foundation and on the alumni advisory board for the Villanova University Department of Communications.