Expertise: social entrepreneurship & marketing

Heather Wilkinson has had extensive experience working in the economic development sector since 2000, specialising in the area of business support, social enterprise, community regeneration and corporate social responsibility. During her career she has worked for the private, third and public sector through her roles at Business in the Community, Hertfordshire TEC, Corporation of London, and Economic Development Consultancies EDAW and GHK.

In June 2005 she left her full-time consultancy position to set up Striding Out, and she continues to provide national and local level consultancy specialising in entrepreneurship and social enterprise. She is also a qualified business coach and NLP practitioner.

Since starting Striding Out she has won the David Nicholas Business Start Up Award from Kingston University, and the Edge Upstart Social Enterprise Mentor of the Year Award for 2006.

As the CEO and Chair of Striding Out, Heather leads the board and is responsible for business development strategy.