Heather is CEO and co-founder of Catapult Design, a product strategy and development firm that serves emerging markets. Catapult’s clients are companies and organizations working in impoverished communities with technology needs – including rural electrification, water purification and transport, food security, and health. Before Catapult, Heather worked for several years as a product design consultant in Silicon Valley, designing products for a diverse range of clients. In 2005, she co-founded and led a volunteer group focused on social impact design through Engineers Without Borders - SFP. The team’s work was featured in a variety of media and publications, including Newsweek, WIRED.com, ABC News, and PRI’s The World. Heather was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for her work with Engineers Without Borders and Catapult Design. Heather is also a Staff Writer for NextBillion.net and has a degree in Product Design from Stanford University.

What is your favorite thing about your job? The opportunities we're presented with. Catapult's model and program work is a vanguard for a variety of new organizations popping up. And as a small company, it's nice to have the flexibility to play with new ideas, methodologies, and work with a variety of different groups in novel ways.

What's the most surprising thing that's currently on your desk? Nothing. I don't really have a desk since we only have three and there's usually other people in the office that need the workspace. The one I use when it's open used to have a faux umbilical cord on it (for a clean delivery birth kit we were working on).

Where do you go for inspiration? Two completely opposite places: 1) A networking event. New people, new ideas. 2) A long walk by myself. No people, new insight.

Which object do you never leave home without? A small bag of trail mix. I turn into a MONSTER when I get hungry.

What's the one thing you'd want people to know about sustainability? Educating and empowering women in developing countries will have a much larger effect on sustainability and the environment than a retail chain outfitting their stores with solar panels. New packaging, green materials, and manufacturing audits are all good and well, but limited within the context of the world. We can think bigger.