Cheryl Heller

Overview

Cheryl Heller is the Founding Chair of the DSI MFA program and the founder of CommonWise. She has practiced social innovation and communication design with major corporations like Seventh Generation, Reebok, and Bayer Corporation L’Oreal; non-profits such as WWF, IDE (International Development Enterprises), and the Girl Scouts of America; and leading foundations, including Ford. She created the Ideas that Matter program for Sappi in 1999, which has given over $10 million to designers working for the public good, and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Babson Social Innovation Lab at the Lewis Institute, on the Innovation Advisory Board for the Lumina Foundation, and as an advisor to both PopTech and DataKind. Her work is included in the Library of Congress permanent collection and in numerous books on design and creativity. She writes for many publications as well, including Unreasonable Institute, NextBillion, and Dowser. Cheryl is a recipient of the AIGA Medal for her contributions to the field of design.