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About Heath

Originally hailing from the Carolina lowcountry, Heath Nettles is a communications, marketing and digital strategy professional based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.

With nearly two decades of experience, Heath helps organizations clarify their message, build stronger brands and connect more effectively with their audiences. His work includes partnering with purpose-driven teams to develop strategy-led communications that make an impact. Clients include healthcare systems, higher education institutions, nonprofits, social enterprises, authors and artists.

Heath recently served five and a half years as Chief of Staff for Marketing and Communications and Senior Director at The Recycling Partnership—an NGO committed to building a better recycling system that delivers economic and environmental benefits to communities and the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the recycling industry. There, he led all owned, paid, earned and shared channels as well as storytelling and community-based strategies to help people recycle more and better.

Prior to joining The Recycling Partnership, Heath was Director of Digital and Social Media at Asheville-based Mission Health. He was responsible for leading the planning, execution and evaluation of all digital, social media and web initiatives across the $1.9 billion integrated health system, which included 10 hospitals, post-acute care facilities, ambulatory clinics and more than 800 employed providers—one of the largest accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the nation.

During his eight-year tenure at the six-time Top 15 Health System, Heath’s team earned numerous accolades, including:

• Internet’s Top 50 Health Education Blogs (#14)

• Internet’s Top 100 Health & Wellness Blogs (#25)

• Top 100 Hospitals in Social Media (#23)

• “Most Wired” Hospitals in the U.S.

• #5 Super Hospital in IT

Additional honors included Best Website and Digital Campaign by Healthcare Marketing National, along with recognition from the regional division of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) for consumer and employee publications, mixed media campaigns, interactive websites, marketing on a shoestring budget, social media, mobile applications and internal communications.

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About Heath (...continued)

Outside of the office, Nettles is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business and Management at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He has been a member of the graduate school faculty in the School of Health Sciences, part of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. His teaching experiences have included undergraduate and graduate-level courses in digital and social media, marketing, introduction to business, principles of management, organizational behavior and theory as well as strategic management, a program's capstone seminar.

He recently served on the board of directors for the Carolina Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society's and as Lay Leader at Mars Hill United Methodist Church. Today, he serves as District Lay Leader for more than 130 churches across nine counties in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, including his home congregation, where he is currently Communications Director.

He also volunteers with the local United Way, Reconciling Ministries, the Madison County Racial Justice Coalition and several social enterprises, consulting on business development, marketing and communications strategies.

A graduate of the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Heath earned his master of business administration from Western Carolina University. He also holds an Advanced Public Information Officer Certificate in Health and Hospital Emergencies from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. More recently, he has pursued studies in Project Management at Stanford University.