Kate Murphy Heller is a driven creative leader with over 15 years of experience in communications, design, and marketing with a passion for team development.
Heller is currently a Climatebase Fellow and Consultant in San José, California.
For the past 15 years, Heller has been imagining, refining, and redefining brand narratives through words and images for industries as diverse as architectural design and sporting goods. Her unconventional background and broad professional experience as an artist, writer, and strategist has allowed Heller to cultivate skills that uniquely qualify her for leading creative teams. From her emphasis on clear and tactful communication in offering and implementing feedback, to her ability to inspire and motivate others in the workplace, she is a masterful builder of positive team culture.
If you work together, you’ll find that Heller thrives on finding solutions to what others might call stumbling blocks. She meets challenges with a smile, gives credit where credit is due, acts with integrity and empathy in the workplace, and implements clever, creative solutions whenever and wherever possible.
“Kate Heller is a gifted leader. The constructive criticism that she provided always landed in a way that encouraged me and motivated me to dig a little deeper.” - Heather Hohl, Program Director
"Kate is a skilled manager who is able to envision solutions and communicate and translate complicated ideas." - Charles Watkins, Business Training Specialist
“Kate Heller is a gifted leader. The constructive criticism that she provided always landed in a way that encouraged me and motivated me to dig a little deeper.” - Heather Hohl, Program Director "Kate is a skilled manager who is able to envision solutions and communicate and translate complicated ideas." - Charles Watkins, Business Training Specialist
"Kate maintains a high bar over which she successfully vaults time and again to deliver thorough, intelligent, no excuses, beautifully rendered projects and articulate editorial. Adept in both spoken and visual languages, Kate is also a delight to work with. " - Hilary Jay, Founder
"Kate maintains a high bar over which she successfully vaults time and again to deliver thorough, intelligent, no excuses, beautifully rendered projects and articulate editorial. Adept in both spoken and visual languages, Kate is also a delight to work with. " - Hilary Jay, Founder
“Kate is a terrific writer and content strategist who I would highly recommend.” - Tarley Jordan, Communications Director
"I have great respect for her ability to ask questions and her encouragement for us to dig deeper by providing additional provocative questions: Kate is a great listener." - John deWolf, Principal
“Kate is a terrific writer and content strategist who I would highly recommend.” - Tarley Jordan, Communications Director "I have great respect for her ability to ask questions and her encouragement for us to dig deeper by providing additional provocative questions: Kate is a great listener." - John deWolf, Principal
From Colleagues and Clients:
-
![Director Franklin Sirmans at PAMM, photo by Angel Valentin, courtesy of Pérez Art Museum Miami]()
Director Franklin Sirmans on Pérez Art Museum Miami
Franklin Sirmans, Director of Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), spoke to blooloop about his career to date, making the most of pandemic closures, and taking the organization forward in 2021.
-
![Screenshot of Loupe website]()
Loupe Website
Loupe modernizes the concept of corporate team-building with values-driven multisensory experiences, designed to deepen remote workplace relationships.
-
![FCB Illustration of food waste]()
Intro to Full Cycle Bioplastics
This short course serves as an introduction to Full Cycle as a company, and the bioplastics industry. You'll learn about the company’s origins, leadership, technology, and goals.
-
![Flowchart of SOP writing process]()
SOP for Authoring SOPs
Developing and using standard operating procedures documents is critically important to the establishment and maintenance of quality standards as well as ensuring consistent output across the whole organization.
-
![Cloud Migration Tool]()
Cloud Experience Assessment Dynamic Report
Discover what 4,500 of your peers around the world are saying as you explore this dynamic report where we uncover multi-layered insights and best practices that you can use now.
-
![Paula Scher with Maps]()
2019 SEGD Fellow Paula Scher—Exactly as Rendered
Paula Scher needs no introduction—she's a megawatt luminary in graphic design, an accomplished artist, a longtime Pentagram partner and the creative source of many beloved and inspiring environments.
-
![Nike HQ Wall]()
Nike NYHQ Dream Teamwork
Collaboration was the name of the game at the new Nike NYHQ, where Nike creative directors teamed up with STUDIOS Architecture, WSDIA and a group of artists and artisans to create a slam-dunk workplace experience.
-
![Fort Needham Memorial Signage]()
Deconstructing Tragedy—Fort Needham Memorial Park
In 1917, an unprecedented explosion dramatically changed the history and landscape of Halifax. Nearly a century later, multidisciplinary collaboration between Ekistics Planning & Design and Form:Media (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) resulted in the renewal of a public park that takes a deconstructed approach to memorializing tragedy.
-
![Bodies in Motion, Greeneyl]()
Entering Design Competitions is Good for Business. Here’s Why.
At their best, design competitions promote innovation, creativity, excellence and sheer possibility. Who doesn’t want to be aligned with those? And winning, of course, brings validation and acclaim. But it’s not all about the glory. There is actually a business case to be made for entering design competitions—whether you win or not.
-
![Still from Awards Video]()
2020 SEGD Global Design Awards
2020 SEGD GLOBAL DESIGN AWARDS: Celebrating Design that Connects People to Place WASHINGTON— This year's winning projects in the SEGD Global Design Awards were announced on July 9, 2020 during the live 2020 SEGD Global Design Awards virtual ceremony. (Runtime: 1h 15m)
-
![Lance Wyman]()
20 Questions with Lance Wyman, "Navigating Life"
SEGD asks 20 questions of Lance Wyman, FSEGD, an experiential graphic design legend—a literal icon of icons—who is currently working on a massive transit system for Mexico City, where he did some of his most beloved work in the late 1960s.
-
![]()
Visual Portfolio
Take a look at more of Heller’s visual work, from ads and catalogs to paintings and prints.
Full Cycle Bioplastics
Head of Certification & Training, 2021 – 2023
Planning, budgeting, building, and leading a Certification & Training department and its programs from the ground up for a Silicon Valley biotech startup within the first six months included hiring a team and devising, implementing and integrating: a document/version control system, scalable structured authoring platform for SOPs, and creating experiential-technical onboarding courses in a Learning Management System, decreasing training time by more than 50%, and increasing retention by approximately 80%; further projects includes the creation of a technology transfer package and its management
Skills: Content Creation & Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Editing, Information Architecture, Instructional Design, Leadership, People & Project Management, Technical Writing
Various Companies & Publications
Contract Writer, Designer & Brand Consultant, 2005 –
Lent marcom, technical writing and graphic design time and talent to a variety of sectors–from national defense and enterprise technology systems, to international recycling operations and team building events–developed and improved brand guidelines, web copy, charts, infographics, keynote and sales presentations, scripts and more
Skills: Branding, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Graphic Design, Journalism, Leadership
CycleBar
Lead Instructor, 2019–2022, 2023–
Led recruitment, onboarding, training and continuing education efforts for a two-studio team of instructors in a boutique fitness environment, maintaining industry-leading standards for instruction with a focus on inclusivity and building positive culture; built a team of 20 contractors, designed bespoke in-person and virtual trainings and team-building events as well as managing studio schedules and performing regular instructor evaluations
Skills: Instructional Design, Leadership, People Management, Public Speaking, Recruiting
Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD)
Director of Content, 2016—2020
Marketing & Sales Director 2014—2016
Planned and executed the editorial calendar and content strategy, from soliciting and editing submitted content to writing long-form feature articles to the publication of an awards magazine; Built unique views from 1m to 4m annually; Also provided critical insights to executive, marketing, web and graphics staff of a professional association; featured firms and projects included: Amazon, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, NBBJ, Gensler, NASA, Nike, NYCTA, Pentagram, Populous, and Stanford Children's Hospital
Skills: Communications, Content Strategy, Copywriting, Copy Editing, Interpersonal Communication, Journalism, Media Relations, Publishing, Video Editing
Rebuilt the organization’s grassroots marketing strategy for live events from campaign planning to social media, email and traditional media strategies using metrics and data analysis to further cross-functional goals
Skills: Content Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO & Analytics, Social Media
Johnson Outdoors, Inc. (SCUBAPRO)
Design & Marketing Direction (Americas), 2008—2014
Worked within annual budgets of 750K—1.1M to achieve greater than 10% growth in a shrinking market, to include the following: managed the equity of well-known brands, and executed rebranding efforts, while leading all product launches and campaigns for the Americas region, and assisting international teams, from working closely with product management, sales and customer service, to art-directing photo shoots and the work of outside agencies for a sporting-goods manufacturer, whose high end scuba equipment is created and marketed by an international team for a selective network of specialty retailers
Skills: Ad Buying, Art Direction, Brand Management, Budgeting, Budget Management & Cost Control, Content Management, Creative Direction, Video & Photo Shoots, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Publishing, Project & People Management, Vendor Management
CERT Health Sciences, LLC
Senior Graphic Designer, 2007–2008
Created a complete suite of new collateral materials for a fledgling company, from a reimagined product logo, and ads to fresh corporate, client and patient materials for a non surgical medical device startup, with a focus on post-sale support & tools
Skills: Graphic Design, Brand Development
Roles
Climatebase
Fellow, Cohort 3, 2023
Selected to join Cohort 3 of the Climatebase Fellowship, a professional community and career accelerator for talented individuals dedicated to addressing climate change
Skills: Communications, Leadership, Public Speaking
Education, Certification, and Involvement
Bachelor of Fine Arts, cum laude, 2007 from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Md.
Foci: Painting, Digital Video
Lean Six Sigma White, Yellow, and Green Belts; 2022 from The Council for Six Sigma Certification (OkBZc0w101)
In Process: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification, OSHA HAZWOPER 40 Certification, Statistics for Business
Volunteers with and organizes fundraisers for local and international organizations like Anacostia Watershed Society, DCJCC, IWAF, Surfrider Foundation, The Trevor Project, and WWF