Indian Gaming 2018 Tradeshow and Conference

Heather Fleming
CEO, Catapult Design
Co-Founder, Change Labs


Heather Fleming (Dine’) is the co-founder of Change Labs, an annual entrepreneurship and innovation on the Navajo Nation, and the CEO of Catapult Design, a product and service design firm with an expertise in human-centered design for marginalized communities. Catapult partners with organizations to develop sustainable solutions that address technology and social issues such as: rural electrification, water purification and transport, food security, and improved health. Heather’s work with Catapult Design highly influences her Change Labs work to inspire social entrepreneurship on the Navajo Nation. Through Change Labs, Heather engages partners in and around the Navajo Nation to incubate, finance and train new and prospective Native American entrepreneurs in an effort to diversify local economies and promote innovation. Heather was previously a design and innovation consultant in Silicon Valley, designing products and services for a diverse range of corporate clients, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University and California Academy of the Arts. Early in her career she co-founded and led a volunteer group, the Appropriate Technology Design Team (ATDT), focused on social impact design work through a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in San Francisco. The team still exists today and engages hundreds of volunteers in engineering and design challenges throughout the developing world. Heather was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow for her work with EWB and Catapult Design. She also serves on the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s Engineering and Global Development committee, chairing an initiative to create standardized evaluation metrics and design guidelines for products distributed in impoverished communities, and is a former Board member of the Dineh Chamber of Commerce.

Sessions :