Biography

Katherine Bowles serves as Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, where she provides strategic leadership and counsel to the Chairman and senior executives. In this role, she helps drive EXIM’s policy development, guide agency operations, and lead engagement with stakeholders to strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness, advance international development, and support the creation of American jobs through expanded global trade opportunities.

Bowles joins EXIM after serving as a Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee. There, she managed oversight of more than $50 billion in annual appropriations, with a focus on international security, economic resilience, global health, and food security. She played a key role in shaping federal investments and foreign assistance related to critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital diplomacy, including advancing strategic funding frameworks for programs that support U.S. objectives on AI governance and open internet access.

Additionally, Bowles partnered with interagency and multilateral organizations to advance international collaboration on development and security policy. She regularly advised members of the subcommittee on federal spending and authored appropriations language shaping U.S. foreign policy programs. Her work included extensive global field oversight to assess risk, compliance, and impact across U.S.-funded global initiatives.

Before this role, Bowles served as Legislative Assistant in the office of Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), where she was responsible for analyzing legislative activity and managing the Foreign Affairs and Health legislative portfolios. She is a fellow of the Congressional Cybersecurity Lab at the Wilson Center, contributing to cross-branch policy discussions on data privacy, cybersecurity, and emerging technology governance.

Bowles holds a Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, with a minor in French, from the University of Alabama. A native of Selma, Alabama, she brings both policy expertise and a strong commitment to public service to this leadership role.