Cheryl Heller is the Founding Chair of the first MFA program in Design for Social Innovation at SVA and the founder of the design lab CommonWise. She is a business strategist and communication designer who has founded two companies and taught creativity to leaders and organizations around the world, helped grow businesses from small regional enterprises to multi-billion global market leaders, launched category-redefining divisions and products, reinvigorated moribund cultures, and designed strategies for hundreds of successful entrepreneurs.
She is the former Board Chair and Advisor to PopTech, a Senior Fellow at the Babson Social Innovation Lab, and the Lewis Institute, on the Innovation Advisory Board for the Lumina Foundation, and serves as an advisor to DataKind. She has written for many publications on the subject of social innovation design and creativity.
Her clients have included Ford, American Express, Reebok, Mariott International, Cemex, Gap, Bayer Corporation, Seventh Generation, L.Oreal, Hearst, Sappi, WWF, Audubon, IDE, Concern Worldwide and the Girl Scouts of America. She created the Ideas that Matter program for Sappi in 1999, which has since given over $12 million to designers working for the public good. She also advised Paul Polak and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum on the exhibit, “Design for the Other 90%.”
Cheryl is an AIGA medalist, a Matrix Award winner for excellence in communication and has been profiled through articles in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, BusinessWeek and many others, and her work has been published widely. Her work in included in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.
She is the former Board Chair and Advisor to PopTech, a Senior Fellow at the Babson Social Innovation Lab, and the Lewis Institute, on the Innovation Advisory Board for the Lumina Foundation, and serves as an advisor to DataKind. She has written for many publications on the subject of social innovation design and creativity.
Her clients have included Ford, American Express, Reebok, Mariott International, Cemex, Gap, Bayer Corporation, Seventh Generation, L.Oreal, Hearst, Sappi, WWF, Audubon, IDE, Concern Worldwide and the Girl Scouts of America. She created the Ideas that Matter program for Sappi in 1999, which has since given over $12 million to designers working for the public good. She also advised Paul Polak and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum on the exhibit, “Design for the Other 90%.”
Cheryl is an AIGA medalist, a Matrix Award winner for excellence in communication and has been profiled through articles in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, BusinessWeek and many others, and her work has been published widely. Her work in included in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.
Sessions
Women, Money, Power: How to be it, have it, get it
Wednesday, May 6 • 10:15 – 11:00am
Please join Cheryl Heller for an approach to gender as a design problem, a recap of how far we’ve come on our way to equality, and some hard lessons learned over the years.
Fifteen Ideas That Matter
Thursday, May 7 • 10:15 – 11:00am
How far has design for social impact come—and what have we learned from it? Social design is a key part of what has been called the largest movement on earth. It is a force that impacts business, society, government and the planet. In this session, we’ll look at how design for good has evolved, what we can learn from the revolution, and we’ll look at fifteen innovative ideas that will impact the future. With so many of us incorporating social impact efforts into our work—whether for clients or to solve social issue—this session will surely shape your future.
