The firm’s founder and Managing Principal is John N. Heathcliff. Since 1989, John has served in senior roles with nationally recognized organizations. He has worked with leaders from business, philanthropy, law, entertainment, education, government, and the nonprofit sector to create and implement a variety of national, state, and local initiatives.

Prior to founding Heathcliff & Company, LLC, John worked for Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono public interest law firm. He worked closely with its board of directors — managing partners of the world’s largest law firms and general counsel from major corporations — to increase legal services for the poor. He played a key role in expanding the profile of Public Counsel’s annual William O. Douglas Award recruiting distinguished honorees such as Marian Wright Edelman, Madeleine Albright, Bill Richardson, and William H. Gates, Sr., and special guests including Robin Williams and Jay Leno. John redefined Public Counsel’s Corporate Achievement Award to recognize best practices in corporate responsibility, honoring such companies as Microsoft, Best Buy, Intel, and DIRECTV. He worked with Northrop Grumman and Safeway to create Public Counsel’s new Center for Veterans Advancement to assist veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prior to joining Public Counsel, John served as Associate Executive Director for the Los Angeles Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, which was the leading provider of human relations training and education for government agencies, businesses, schools, and community organizations.

John was founding CEO of Workplace Hollywood, a multi-million initiative funded by the entertainment industry and private foundations to increase workforce diversity. Its grantmaking programs and workforce development initiatives were designed to ensure historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged communities can effectively compete for and gain access to jobs and business opportunities in the entertainment industry. John recruited a team of experts to develop School–To–Career, Entry–Level Job Training and Placement, and Executive Recruiting programs. He expanded the Board from its original six founders and donors to 21 senior executives representing all of the major entertainment companies, unions and guilds, as well as civic and community partners.

John served as Executive Vice President of the Fulfillment Fund, a nationally recognized model mentoring and scholarship program in Los Angeles, where he worked closely with the Fund’s Chief Executive Officer, Board members and donors to more than double the size of the organization and the number of youth it serves. At the Fund, he oversaw all strategic planning, organizational development, fundraising, and external communications.

As Director of Development, Marketing and Public Relations for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, John worked on issues of homelessness, youth delinquency, welfare and poverty. He began his career in the nonprofit sector with the American Red Cross, serving as Director of Corporate Relations and working on disaster relief campaigns.