Title: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Kathryn’s
Location: PA/USA
Education: Coursework in Psychology, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University
Career History: Chief Executive Officer, Kathryn’s (2020-Present); Manager, Juniata Valley Winery (2015-2020)
Kathryn R. Fisher, Chief Executive Officer at Kathryn’s, has been recognized as a Marquis Emerging Leader for their contributions and achievements in the field of entrepreneurship.
Growing up in a household of eight in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Ms. Fisher saw early on how highly valued time around the dinner table was for the family. Some of her fondest childhood memories included gathering every night, enjoying each other’s company over meals her mom—who was raised Amish—prepared from scratch, from gardening to canning and cooking. This would ultimately shape a vision for her current business.
After five years as manager at Juniata Valley Winery, a family-owned wine crafting and events operation based in Juniata County, Ms. Fisher turned her attention to a new venture in 2020. Ever since, she has served as the chief executive officer at Kathryn’s, which, out of a one-room schoolhouse, offers a variety of frozen food items inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch-style cooking, including homemade macaroni and cheese, lasagnas, and meatballs. The business, whose slogan is “Dinner for the Family,” provides home-cooked frozen meals for working parents and their families, as well as for elderly households.
Customers can place orders and pick up their meals at the on-site location, or place online orders for pickup only through their website. In 2025, Ms. Fisher and her business won the “Most Like Mom’s” award at the Mac ‘n’ Cheese Festival at State College.
Ms. Fisher has created most of the recipes, drawing from family traditions passed down from her mom and grandmother, while also experimenting to develop her own unique dishes. Juggling myriad responsibilities, she oversees a five-person staff, handles 50 percent of the production work, including the packaging process, and does office work from bookkeeping to personnel management and HR tasks.
Over the course of her entrepreneurial growth, Ms. Fisher attributes much of her success to the mentorship from SCORE, a nonprofit organization that specializes in assisting small business. She believes their help has been exceptional, and has recently culminated in a Certificate of Appreciation from SCORE. Looking toward the future, she hopes to build a manufacturing site for production.