Heather McGowan

Future-of-Work Strategic Consultant & Speaker
Heather
McGowan

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AVAILABLE FOR

Keynote
Fireside Chat
Panelist
Virtual Presentation
Workshop & Training
Webinar

Fee ranges

Domestic In-Person (USA):

$30,001 - $40,000*

International In-Person:

Please inquire

Virtual:

$20,001 - $30,000*

Other:

* Ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees vary by engagement type and are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact Gravity Speakers.

Traveling from

Florida, USA

About

One of Forbes' Top Futurists, Heather E. McGowan is a sought-after future-of-work strategist, keynote speaker, and 2x bestselling author. She equips leaders and organizations to navigate relentless change by activating their most critical resource: their people. By teaching audiences to ask better questions, she enables them to adapt at the speed of possibility to Solve Tomorrow's Problems™.

Heather’s audiences range from startups and government organizations to publicly traded Fortune 500 companies, including Google, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Mastercard, FedEx, AT&T, and Kaiser Permanente. Whether she's engaging in intimate conversations with senior executives or delivering keynotes to thousands, she transforms perspectives through data-driven insights, powerful visual frameworks, and practical optimism. Her approach helps organizations turn their distinctly human capabilities—adaptability, empathy, and curiosity—into strategic advantages in times of rapid change.

Heather's approach to innovation was shaped by her early career as an industrial designer. At Safety 1st, she helped transform the company known for its "Baby on Board" sign in to a comprehensive baby safety products' leader, developing multiple top-selling products. Her success continued at Wilson Sporting Goods', where she designed award-winning tennis footwear. Her innovative work extended to medical devices, where she designed surgical equipment controls, and sustainable consumer goods, creating a groundbreaking recyclable razor system that remains in production two decades later. 

This hands-on experience taught her that true innovation isn't just about finding solutions—it's about asking better questions to Solve Tomorrow’s Problems. After earning her MBA from Babson College, Heather expanded into socially responsive investing and later led RISD's Center for Design and Business, helping organizations integrate user-centric design thinking into business strategy.

As Strategic Architect at Philadelphia University (now Jefferson University), Heather created an award-winning, interdisciplinary college focused on innovation. Her achievements included integrating 18 existing programs into a new core curriculum and creating an immersive design thinking-based program. The curriculum won the Core 77 top National Design Award for Education.

Heather’s emergence as a global thought leader began with a viral LinkedIn series on the future of work—reaching 100,000 readers in 24 hours—which sparked speaking invitations worldwide. Often quoted in The New York Times, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist Thomas Friedman referred to Heather as an “oasis” for her insights into the future of work. Her bestselling books include The Adaptation Advantage, which became an accidental guide to the pandemic, and The Empathy Advantage, named a Top 10 Business Book of 2023. 

Heather holds a BFA in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design, an MBA from Babson College focused on Entrepreneurship, and was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design for her contributions to innovating education. 

Personal experiences, like mobilizing 7,000 strangers to find a life-saving bone marrow donor for her brother, fuel Heather's unwavering optimism and core belief: humans are wired to help each other achieve extraordinary things. This drives her mission: to help leaders Solve Tomorrow's Problems™ by teaching them to ask better questions today.

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Topics

Topics

SOLVE TOMORROW’S PROBLEMS™

THE AUGMENTED ADVANTAGE

LEADING IN THE AGE OF UNCERTAINTY

CLEAR ON PURPOSE

START WITH TRUST

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G71z0dibnk
Heather E McGowan Showreel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4rCvZMJN4
Keynote Speaker Heather E McGowan introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiQjuuzAC5w&t=2s
Grow Your Opportunity Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tea0_n-gTgE&t=2s
Navigating The Once a Century Shifts: Cultural, Social, Demographic, Technical, and Economic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Lq8KMK40U&t=1s
In Conversation With... Heather McGowan

Books / Movies As an Amazon Associate, Gravity earns from qualifying purchases.

Testimonials

"Heather McGowan is outstanding at her craft, tailoring her presentation for maximum impact. She will leave your audience with clear imperatives and fired up to race into action!"

President
Abbvie North America

"Heather’s presentation style connects to the audience regardless of how your brain is wired. A broad coalition of colleagues found immediate, actionable application of her message"

Erin Watkins, SPHR, VP Transformation
Travelport

"Heather was the highlight of the conference. She gave my team a lot to think about in both the near and far term."

CHRO
Hess

"Heather nailed it. She inspired my people. It was more than I had hoped for."

Reuben Carranza, Group CEO
Amika & EVA NYC

"Heather is a dynamic presenter and we appreciated her message and delivery. Heather is not only a great speaker, she is also very relatable and flexible to work with. This was the first time we had to deliver such an event virtually and I learned many things."

Vice President
CGI Federal

"Heather - Your event was INCREDIBLE. It absolutely nailed the messaging we wanted to get out there, and the feedback was tremendous. It did exactly what we aimed to do - get people thinking more broadly - and DIFFERENTLY - about how they lead, market/industry context, and what they need to prepare for in the future. I sincerely hope we get to have you back again - I know there were some leaders internally that were interested in having you speak with their teams."

Vice President Talent
Mastercard

"The way Heather combined concrete research data with common sense insights educated people and provided them with a clear blueprint for what actions to take."

Mike Corkery, President & Chief Executive Officer
Deltek

"Really excellent talk. The best one I have attended in quite some time. It was incredibly dense, packing in studies, data, trends, concepts, and frameworks that were relevant as an individual and a manager. Essential viewing.."

Manager
Google