Kate Mielitz, Ph.D., AFC®, CDP® has almost 25 years of experience in financial services, including bankruptcy, fraud, financial counseling and higher education.
Mielitz earned a Ph.D. in personal financial planning from Kansas State University and her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and master's degree in interpersonal communications from the University of Wyoming. She obtained her Accredited Financial Counselor certification from the Association of Financial Counseling and Planning Education, AFCPE®, in 2009 via the FINRA Education Foundation Military Spouse Fellowship.
From 2018 to 2021, Mielitz served as an assistant professor in the family financial planning program at Oklahoma State University. She has also worked for AFCPE, Family Promise of the Mid-Willamette Valley, and Consumer Credit Counseling Services, among other organizations. Mielitz recently established the consulting firm Privileged Conversations, LLC. She specializes in training financial professionals on how to navigate cultural differences and be impactful in their work with marginalized, vulnerable, and neurodiverse clients.
Mielitz’s area of research expertise focuses on vulnerable populations. Her ground-breaking research in the area of personal finance and transitioning inmates has been influential in the personal finance and criminal justice fields. She has also been cited in numerous popular media outlets including Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates, Time Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report.
In 2019, Mielitz won the FINRA Education Foundation Military Spouse Mentor of the Year Award and in 2020 won AFCPE’s Mary Ellen Edmondson Educator of the Year Award.
Mielitz recently obtained her Certified Diversity Professional, CDP®. She is committed to making personal finance accessible and inclusive for in-person and online communities. In her spare time, she sits on the Education Advisory Board for the Tourette Association of America, where she also volunteers.