Rev. Cathy Horton, Esq.
After being educated in High School by the Quakers at George School in Philadelphia, Cathy went on to graduate from the University of Michigan in 1983, The Ohio State College of Law in 1986 and The University of Kent Canterbury Theological College in England in 1999. In 2000, she was ordained as an Episcopal priest.
Cathy has spent over 20 years cultivating a global mergers & acquisitions and venture finance legal practice, serving a myriad of clients that range from the Fortune 100 companies to emerging and mid-market enterprises. She spent 15 years in London, where she developed a passion for technology in the emerging companies’ market place. In Europe, she formed her own consulting practice and worked with global enterprises and start-ups to foster and capture the value of strategic technology innovation. While in London, Cathy served as a trusted advisor to the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to help generate ways in which technology development could drive economic outcomes for Britain.
After suffering from a near lethal medication error, instigated in London and tragically repeated on refill in the U.S., Cathy lost her legal practice and consulting business built over a 15 year period. She returned to the US in January of 2003 and spent nine months recovering her health in Cleveland with the help of her family. In September 2003, Cathy returned to the practice of law with nothing but a blank sheet of paper. In 3 years, she built a $1.5M legal business before she decided to set her sights on building a successful consulting practice www.betastrategygroup.us) once again called the Beta Strategy Group
In her consulting practice, Cathy has not only invested in several companies, including Same Page, Preemptive Solutions, Ayalogic and Antepo among others, but has formed 6 of her own in the technology space. Her recent company, Children's Technology Workshop www.ctworkshopohio.com was formed to help the children of North Eastern Ohio learn creative technology skills and is headquartered in a barn Cathy renovated in the heart of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
In addition to her company investment and formation work, Cathy's consulting practice specializes in forming economic development strategies for municipalities. Her work forming the Beta Technology Park in Mayfield Village recently won a Cuyahoga County Innovation Award. Additionally, after successfully bringing Chautauqua Institution's programming to Chagrin Falls last summer in support of its arts initiative, Cathy is implementing a wireless strategy in Painesville, Ohio that she has dubbed "Munisync." The strategy focuses on the synchronizing effects that a wireless infrastructure has for any City, including in this case, the City of Painesville, its residents, its workers and systems.
In an effort to further reach out to the community, since returning to Cleveland, Cathy agreed to support a blog entitled "Ask Cathy" on the www.Clevelandwomen.com website so that career women have a safe place to ask their difficult personal and professional questions. Also, to assist others whose lives are impacted by medication errors, in April 2007 Cathy formed and funded a 501(c)3 organization called FLAAME (families launching action against medication errors); see www.flaame.org. She has been instrumental in legislative work in Ohio and Washington and was recently cited as an inspiration behind FirstData Bank's "A World Free of Medication Errors" bracelet campaign; flaame is to receive $5 for every bracelet distributed nationwide. Cathy is also the keynote for FirstData Bank's annual conference in 2008 and will be delivering a speech entitled "A Wounded Healer." In addition, Cathy serves as an associate priest on staff at Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral where she takes the midweek Eucharist and Healing service on Thursdays.
Cathy is a supporter of Emily's law, a bill proposed in the state of Ohio, requiring pharmacy technicians to pass certification tests before being allowed to dispense medications. Learn more about Emily's Law - and how you can support it
E-mail: chorton@flaame.org