Engelbert was born circa 1964 and grew up in Collingswood, New Jersey. She grew up with five brothers and two sisters, and attended Collingswood High School.[1] She was inducted into the Collingswood Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.[2] Her father was an IT manager, and her mother a medical practice administrator.[3] She graduated from Lehigh University in 1986, with a degree in accounting. At Lehigh, she tried out for the basketball team as a walk-on under Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, and later became a team captain.[4] She also played lacrosse, and became a captain of that team as well.[3] After graduation, she received her CPA certification and became a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.[5][6]
Catherine Engelbert joined Deloitte in 1986 and worked with the company until retiring in 2019. She joined the WNBA later in 2019.[7] In an interview, she credited Deloitte's early focus on supporting women in the workplace as being important for her career.[8]
Prior to being appointed the CEO of Deloitte in March 2015, she was the chairman and CEO of the audit subsidiary, Deloitte & Touche LLP.[9][10]
Other senior positions Engelbert held at Deloitte include: national managing partner - regions for Deloitte & Touche; deputy national professional practice director; and financial accounting and reporting services quality risk manager. She was named a partner in 1998.[11]
On May 15, 2019, she was named the first commissioner of the WNBA (previous WNBA leaders had been titled "president"). Engelbert officially assumed her new role on July 17, 2019.[12]
On becoming CEO for Deloitte, this rendered Engelbert the first female U.S. CEO of a Big Four firm.[13] News media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal highlighted Engelbert's appointment as cracking the "glass ceiling."[9] While serving as Deloitte's CEO, the company's revenue has increased nearly 6% year over year to $18.6 billion.[14]
