Darlene Heater

Biography: Darlene Heater Executive Director Darlene Heater is the Executive Director for University City Partners, which envisions and implements strategies and actions to drive University City’s long term economic vitality as a center for employment, living, education, commerce and entertainment. Heater is a graduate of The Ohio State University. She has held roles in the public sector for nearly twenty years. Prior to her role at University City Partners, she was the Vice President of Neighborhood Development and Sustainability at Charlotte Center City Partners and Director of Strategic Partnerships for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. She worked in the private sector before Heater has worked on transformational projects such as the Charlotte 2020 Vision Plan, which serves as the blueprint for development for Center City, Envision Charlotte, Uptown’s sustainability initiative, and South End’s Good To Great vision plan. She has built strong relationships with municipal partners at all levels and elected officials while actively engaging in the communities she has served. Originally from Kent, Ohio, she has resided in the University area for seventeen years with her husband and their two children. Both of their children have ties to UNC Charlotte. Their daughter Lyndsay is an UNC Charlotte Bioinformatics grad student alum and their son Nicholaus is an undergraduate student.