Heath B. Nettles, MBA

Education 

Stanford University // Stanford, California
Advanced Project Management Certificate | 2016 -

Western Carolina University // Cullowhee, NC
Master of Business Administration (4.0 GPA) | December 2012

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) // Anniston, Ala.
Advanced Public Information Officer | March 2012

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill // Chapel Hill, NC
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication | May 2008

Experience 

CHief of Staff, Marketing & Communications, Public Relations and Digital Media

National Stewardship Action Council & Stewardship Action Foundation // West Sacramento, Calif.
Deputy Director (office: Mars Hill, N.C.) | 2025 - Present

Recruited by the Founding Executive Director and Boards of Directors to strengthen organizational sustainability, accelerate growth, diversify revenue, and lead day-to-day operations across communications, development, membership, public affairs and strategic initiatives.

  • Increased annual organizational revenue by 25% in the first fiscal year while reversing negative cash flow through revenue diversification, strategic partnerships, membership growth and project-based funding

    More than doubled the national member network, expanding engagement to nearly 3,000 professionals and building a coalition of 120+ organizations representing industry, government, nonprofits, academia and service providers

  • Conceived, launched and scaled the National Textile Working Group—the first national nonprofit-led working group of its kind in the United States focused on advancing textile circularity policy and solutions. Grew the initiative from concept to launch in less than three months and generated approximately 5% of organizational revenue within its first six months

  • Transformed California-focused policy working groups into national forums, creating a scalable model for cross-sector collaboration and supporting the launch of a national Circular Economy Policy Guide

  • Directed project partnerships supporting statewide circular economy planning, local extended producer responsibility ordinances, policy analyses and collection pilots advancing implementation of California's SB 54 and related circular economy initiatives

  • Built and oversee a national working group infrastructure that enables collaboration among manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, local governments, NGOs and policymakers, providing early identification of implementation challenges and opportunities

  • Established the organization as a leading national voice on circular economy and product stewardship policy through legislative testimony, conference presentations, media engagement and stakeholder convenings

  • Led strategic communications and public relations efforts resulting in consistent national media coverage, averaging multiple earned media placements each week, including placement of an opinion piece in The Hill

  • Advanced domestic end-market development through the ReMade in America initiative, connecting circular economy policy discussions with manufacturing competitiveness, worker safety, supply chain resilience and economic development

  • Developed and expanded national educational programming and partnerships focused on packaging, textiles, household hazardous waste, materials recovery and extended producer responsibility implementation


The Recycling Partnership // Washington, D.C.
Marketing & Communications Chief of Staff + Senior Director of Marketing & Communications (office: Mars Hill, N.C.) | 2019-2025

Reporting into c-suite roles with responsibility for shaping strategy, messaging, channels & measurement of owned, earned, shared, internal and paid channels and recently completed a four-month stint reporting to the CEO and leading a team of 12 full-time staff:

  • Shaped strategy and messaging, increasing the number and engagement of community partners, funding partners, policy makers and other audiences through omni-channel campaigns, resulting in:

    • a 236% increase in website users, including a 240% increase in new users

    • 25 million impressions (+142%)

    • 339,000 engagements (+265%)

    • 35k+ new followers (+500%)

    • 465% increase in online goal conversions

  • Creating, led and improved The Partnership’s media relations workstream by directing public relations and communications strategies across more than 400 granting initiatives nationwide, contributing to

    • an annual media exposure of 4,000 (+35%),

    • a potential reach of over 8. 2 billion (+90%)

    • an advertising equivalency of more than $76.5 million (+646%)

    • commanding a 40% share of voice

    • quadrupling top-tier media mentions, earning an average of two per week in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, HuffPost, Real Simple, Bloomberg, CNBC, Axios, NPR, Business Insider, The Hill and Forbes

  • Led the Marketing & Communications team in addition to other key audiences, including leadership, UX designers, copywriters and developers to redesign recyclingpartnership.org in under four months resulting in:

    • a 14% increase in visits

    • a 23% increase in pageviews

    • a 9% increase in users

  • Pioneered a new internal communications platform connecting, informing and engaging a remote 100-person team driving nearly 700 weekly visits with 75% of staff visiting at least once per week

  • Led a cross-functional team of developers, designers, copywriters and marketers in collaboration with Facebook and five Fortune 500 companies to propose, design, develop and launch a Messenger chatbot providing personalized, hyperlocal recycling education

  • Shepherded the integration of The Partnership’s chatbot experience into Recycle Check, the same tool powering dynamic labels and QR codes on packaging

  • Directed the team to successfully plan, organize and execute the organization’s inaugural three-day summit with 200+ attendees working to shape the future of recycling

  • Spearheaded the launch of a national public-facing brand designed to inspire recycling participation and guide households to recycle the right way, contributing to a:

    • 123% increase in website users including a 122% increase in new users

    • a 5,900% increase in social audience growth, 8 million impressions (+32K%)

    • a 3,000% increase in engagements

  • Promoted four times in five years from Director of Communications to Director of Marketing and Communications to Senior Director of Marketing and Communications to Marketing & Communications Chief of staff to lead brand/corporate marketing and communications with responsibilities for leading marketing, digital, public relations and communications

The Blue Ridge District of the United Methodist Church // Asheville, N.C.
District Lay Leader | 2025-Present

Appointed to a volunteer role representing laity across 132 churches representing 4,400+ faithful disciples of Jesus Christ deployed as missionaries to transform communities in the nine mountain and foothill counties.

  • Serving as a bridge between the local church lay leaders and the wider district leadership and conference leadership

  • Training and equipping local church lay leaders to effectively fulfill their roles in local congregations

  • Facilitating communication by acting as a liaison between the district superintendent, local church lay leaders and other lay organizations within the district

  • Recognizing and developing emerging lay leaders within the district

  • Advocating for lay concerns while representing the needs and perspectives of the laity in district-level discussions and decision making

  • Working to ensure that the district's ministries align with the overall mission of the church

Heath B. Nettles, LLC // Remote, Hawaii, & Western North Carolina
Fractional CMO, Strategy & PR/Communications Consultant | 2012-Present

Advanced brand positioning in addition to communications, marketing and digital strategies health systems, five nonprofits/social enterprises and two authors/artists

  • Led the design, copywriting, development and website maintenance for more than eight nonprofit, social enterprise and religious organizations' websites

  • Advanced business development opportunities and brand positioning efforts for more than 15 organizations, exerting influence on business strategy and client growth

  • Partnered with the largest health system in Hawaii to propose, develop, implement & evaluate both a Prepared to Care and Stay in Care campaign to increase inpatient and outpatient volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Guided the redesign of queens.org from research and planning to development and curation of content

  • Collaborated with a hospital’s senior leadership to develop philanthropic cases for support to complete a 24-bed inpatient infectious disease unit, allowing the medical center to assume a pivotal leadership role in addressing the state’s response to COVID-19

  • Led a health system’s transformation to consumer-driven marketing, proposing, implementing and evaluating strategies and structure to drive volumes and revenues

  • Developed a cardiovascular service line campaign, targeted at increasing physician and self-referrals increasing website users 45% and conversions by more than 26% despite the COVID-19 pandemic

Mission Health // Asheville, NC
Director, Digital & Social Media | 2011-2019

Reporting into CSO, SVP of Government & Community Relations & VP of Marketing and Communications roles with accountabilities for strategy, messaging & measurement of owned & shared channels with additional responsibilities for internal communications channels and issues and crisis management among 12,000 staff at 10 hospitals & post-acute care facilities

  • Grew organization’s inaugural digital media team from 0 to 6 FTEs in 4 years, hardwired processes for data-driven decision making, social media service recovery, campaign development, execution and measurement

  • Insourced & built health system’s first-ever internal web design and development team, attaining an “Excellent” System Usability Scale score in <6 months, while reducing annual operating costs 58%

  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to design, develop and launch 20+ websites, including ability for consumers to self schedule primary care visits, resulting in 62% increase in online conversions

  • Recognized as #23 on a list of the nation’s top 100 social media hospitals for excelling in social media engagement and fans, increasing social media engagement by nearly 1,000% on 15+ social media accounts

  • Grew social media impressions more than 630%, eclipsing 42.6 million annual impressions while increasing online sentiment 160+%

  • Launched health system’s first consumer blog increasing pageviews 3,900% and eclipsing 198K annual readers, leading the publication to be named #14 among the internet's top health education blogs and #25 on the list of the internet's top 100 health and wellness blogs

  • Streamlined consumer-centric approach to patient portals, which realized a cost savings in excess of $500,000 and enrolled more than 56,000; increased portal users 51%

  • Led the planning, execution & evaluation of all digital, social & web initiatives among 29+ Marketing & Communications staff including 6 direct reports and 2 interns, 10 hospitals & post-acute care facilities; leading to growth in net revenues >85% and patients served >120% (295,000)

  • Led community relations education, engagement and evangelism initiatives, including corporate sponsorships/events and two award-winning publications with circulations exceeding 80,000

  • Launched and managed a cross-functional team responsible for Social Media Service Recovery (SMSR) and online information assistance via social media & contact us forms; increased submissions by more than 300%

  • Planned, researched and implemented innovative and award-winning digital campaigns designed to educate, empower, engage, entertain and evangelize consumers, including becoming one the nation’s first health systems to integrate verified pages, instant articles and Facebook Live

  • Twice recognized by a regional healthcare marketing & public relations society for industry-leading use of Facebook Live

  • Promoted from Marketing Coordinator to Marketing Specialist to Manager to Senior Consultant to System Director in a five-year stint

Western Carolina University // Cullowhee, NC
Academic Advisor with an emphasis in marketing & communications | 2010-2011

  • Led the implementation of an inaugural professional advising model within a college, which was scaled to other schools and colleges across the University

  • Enhanced the college’s image through effective communications, marketing and recruitment

  • Recognized with a Dean’s Above & Beyond Award for proposing and implementing the college’s first social media marketing plan and network (then the second brand network for the University)

  • Chaired & restructured the College’s scholarship selection to include digital application processes

Western Carolina University // Cullowhee, NC
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admission | 2008-2010

  • Proposed, implemented & evaluated initiatives to enhance the number of enrolled students by 17%

  • Recognized for successfully managing rural & urban recruitment areas, increasing territory enrollment by 33%

  • Enhanced the yield of enrolled students through the proposal, creation and administration of an online social media community of more than 550 admitted students

  • Directed office’s social media efforts in addition to exerting influence in the University’s social media launch

  • Rendered decisions of admissibility of transfer, distance, international & non-traditional applicants

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill // Chapel Hill, NC
Visitation Program Coordinator, Office of Undergraduate Admissions | 2006-2008

  • Improved the overall quality of the Carolina Admissions Ambassador through the effective management, selection and training of more than 250 Admissions Ambassadors and tour guides

  • Collaborated with faculty to afford 2,000 prospective students the opportunity to experience academic life

  • Served as receptionist for undergraduate admissions

 

Teaching & Scholarship

University of North Carolina Asheville // Asheville, NC
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Management | 2016-Present

  • Plans, delivers and evaluates instruction for Digital and Social Marketing, a 300-level, four-credit hour course in the Department of Business

  • Plans, delivers and evaluates instruction for Organizational Behavior & Theory, a 200-level, four-credit hour course in the Department of Business

  • Plan, delivers and evaluates instruction for Introductory Seminar in Organizations, a 100-level, two-credit hour introductory seminar required of all Business Majors at UNC Asheville

  • Provided student-led, faculty-advised consulting for more than 25 small businesses and social enterprises across Western North Carolina

Western Carolina University // Cullowhee, NC
Adjunct Faculty, School of Health Sciences | 2018-2021

Received adjunct faculty appointment to the Master of Health Sciences program at the recommendation of former regional healthcare executive

  • Planned, delivered and evaluated instruction for a graduate-level healthcare marketing course in the College of Health and Human Sciences

  • Regularly exceeded departmental, school and campus-wide benchmarks in students’ evaluations

  • Partnered with more than 30 nonprofit health organizations and programs to develop comprehensive marketing and communications plans

Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College // Asheville, NC
Adjunct Instructor, Business Administration | 2013-2016

  • Regularly exceeded departmental standards in students’ evaluations

  • Planned and delivered instruction for Principles of Management, Introduction to Business and Strategic Management (capstone seminar)

  • Piloted the college’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) in summer Introduction to Business Course

Leadership
& Service

Honors

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