User:Nicholas.t.spencer/Catherine T Taylor

Catherine Taylor has been serving Rhode Island for the past 25 years -- raising four children, staffing Senators John Chafee and Lincoln Chafee, starting a small business, and volunteering in our community.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Herbert Isaiah “Buzz” Terry, Jr., and Elizabeth Sullivan Terry, Taylor spent the early years of her life in Hartford, where her father worked at Traveler’s Insurance, Inc. After the birth of her brother, Herbert Isaiah Terry III, the family moved around Connecticut, first to Bolton, and then to Avon. Taylor attended The Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut for high school, and attended Yale University for college, where she majored in History. At Yale, Taylor met her future husband, Rob Taylor, in the fall of their freshman year. They stayed together through college and were married upon Rob’s graduation from Georgetown Law School. By that time Taylor had joined the staff of Representative Bob Smith, R-OR, where she worked for two years. In 1986, Taylor joined the staff of Senator John Chafee, R-RI, where she served as a legislative assistant for defense and foreign policy, speechwriter during the effort to enact health care reform in 1993-4, and speechwriter during Chafee’s term Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. After Senator Chafee’s sudden death in 1999, his son Lincoln Chafee retained Taylor as senior editor until his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 2006.

Out of government for the first time in 20 years, Taylor and another former Chafee staffer, Ian Lang, founded LangTaylor Ltd., a communications and public affairs consulting firm based in Providence, RI. In 2010, LangTaylor changed its name to Taylorwordworks.

In the spring of 2010, Taylor expressed her dismay at Rhode Island’s political and business climate. Using her experience with John Chafee and her beliefs in a robust two-party system and fair election process, Taylor declared her candidacy for the office of Rhode Island Secretary of State on June 29th, 2010.