Heather Bourbeau

Heather Bourbeau has developed communication strategies, political analysis, and high-level reports for United Nations officials, government agencies, established healthcare companies, and tech start-ups. She has overseen multinational teams in complex and sensitive political environments in over 20 countries across three continents.

 

A former journalist, she has transferred her research and functional skills into compelling stories and effective communication strategies. For the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), she developed advocacy reports for the Lake Chad Basin, which were used at a donor meeting that raised $2.17 billion—over $500 million more than the initial goal.

 

She has worked with organizations to develop succinct, accurate, and engaging mission and vision statements to guide all internal and external communications and to act as a North Star for all business development and hiring. She was the in-house communications expert for Lemnos Labs, a hardware venture capital firm, assisting portfolio companies and managing Lemnos’ content across platforms, including podcasts and promotional videos.

 

As Assistant Deputy Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the California Department of Public Health, she helped determine CDPH’s overall media strategy, including highly sensitive communications, and supervised staff responding monthly to hundreds of media queries. In addition, she worked with the California Governor’s Office on climate change communications strategies, continually liaising with other state and federal agencies.

 

She holds a Masters in International Economics and Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s in Mass Communications from the University of California Berkeley.