Kathy Roth-Douquet
American businesswoman and author
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kathy Roth-Douquet is founder and chief executive officer of Blue Star Families. She was the acting Principal Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
Kathy Roth-Douquet | |
|---|---|
| Education | Bryn Mawr College (BA) Woodrow Wilson School Princeton University (MPA) University of San Diego (JD) |
| Occupation | Nonprofit executive |
| Title | Founder and CEO of Blue Star Families |
Board member of | Reserve Forces Policy Board Princeton University Board of Trustees |
| Awards | Daily Point of Light Award Outstanding Civilian Service Award |
Roth-Douquet frequently speaks publicly about the role of the military in civil society and contributes to public discussions on civil military relations, military families, and national service.
Education
Roth-Douquet graduated in 1986 with a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and later earned an M.P.A. in Public Administration and International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1991.[1][2] She then went on to study at the University of San Diego School of Law, Magna Cum Laude and the Order of Coif where she received her J.D.[2][3]
Career
After attending Princeton, Roth-Douquet began working at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. In 1992, she worked as an aid to President Clinton where she was the first woman to serve as Lead Presidential Advance.[4][5] She then worked with the Revlon Foundation,[6] before taking the position of Acting Principle Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.[4][7]
From 2004 until 2011, Roth-Douquet was a panel attorney at Appellate Defenders Inc. in California. In 2007 and 2008, she was an advisor to Obama for America and Veterans for Obama.[8] In 2009, she founded Blue Star Families. She also worked at Princeton University Center for International Security Studies.[4]
Roth-Douquet founded Blue Star Families in 2009.[4][9] It is the largest national non-profit organization dedicated to the support of US military families.[10][11]
Roth-Douquet was a member of the Congressional Quality of Life Panel, which was formed in 2023. The Panel's advocacy efforts resulted in essential quality-of-life provisions for military families being included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Media and publications
In 2006, Roth-Douquet co-authored "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service and How it Hurts Our Country" with Frank Schaeffer,[12] as well as "How free People Move Mountains" in 2008.[4] She has appeared on the Today Show, Fox and Friends,[13] and PBS News Hour[14] advocating her work on civic and military issues.[2][15]
In November 2022, Roth-Douquet published an article on NBC News about the lack of funding and financial assistance for military families.[16] She has published essays and op-eds on various other media outlets like USA Today,[17] PBS,[18] Foreign Policy,[19] and The New York Times among others.[20][21]
Board membership and advisory roles
Roth-Douquet is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, having served as co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center Defense Reform Task Force, and became a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board in 2022.[22] She is a senior advisor for the Summit Institute,[4] a Senior Fellow for the Truman National Security Project, a Fellow with the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces in Society, and also serves on the advisory board of Hope For The Warriors.[23] In 2021, Roth-Douquet was elected as member of the board of trustees at Princeton University.[24]
She is also a member of the advisory board of the Export-Import Bank of America and the America250.[25]
Awards and honors
Roth-Douquet is also a recipient of President George H. W. Bush's Daily Point of Light Award, and the Outstanding Civilian Service Award.[26] In August 2021, Roth-Douquet was the inaugural selection to be inducted into the National Football League Hall.[4]
Personal life
Kathy Roth-Douquet is a military spouse to her veteran husband, Greg Douquet, co-founder of Red Duke Strategies LLC and former U.S. Marine Corps colonel. Together they have two children.[22] While her husband was posted abroad with the US Marine Corps Forces Europe, Kathy lived with her family in Stuttgart, where her daughter Sophie wrote a column for USA Today.[27]