As Director of public Relations for Southwest Strategies, Jonathan Heller focuses on crafting public and media relations strategies, and conducts media training for clients who wish to learn how to more effectively interact with reporters and editors. Heller also writes op-ed pieces, news articles, speeches and marketing copy.
Heller has 18 years experience as a public affairs journalist, including five as a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Government Team, covering downtown San Diego redevelopment, the building of the Padres’ new ballpark, City Hall politics and the city’s pension crisis. He has also covered North County politics, county government and crime, health and aging issues.
In 1999, Heller was one of six journalists awarded a Kiplinger Foundation Fellowship, which allowed him to spend a year studying and writing about federal aging policy at Ohio State University.
His work for the Kiplinger Foundation earned him a reputation outside journalism circles, and in 2001 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. There, Heller helped craft policy guidelines and goals for a nationwide public awareness campaign. His work contributed to the structure of the landmark Elder Justice Act.
Currently Heller serves on the Board of Directors of Senior Community Centers, a San Diego non-profit that provides meals, counseling and housing assistance to at-risk seniors. He also serves on the Founders Committee of the Autism Tree Project Foundation, which raises money for autism research and supports parents of autistic children.
Heller has won numerous reporting awards, including first-place showings with the California Newspaper Publishers Association, Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and the New England Press Association.
He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Ohio State University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the State University of New York, Fredonia.
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