Deputy Mayor Maria Heslin returns to private sector

Bloomington Deputy Mayor Maria Heslin announced earlier this month she is leaving her city government position in the fall to return to the private sector.

Heslin was sworn in as  the City’s first female deputy mayor by Mayor Mark Kruzan in January of 2008 and served as the city communications director for three years prior.

Before joining the City of Bloomington government in 2005, Heslin owned and operated her own marketing and communication firm in downtown Bloomington.

Heslin said she intends to launch her own company focusing on helping businesses and individuals advance their enterprises through strategic communications, business education and material development.

“Her new business will focus on proofreading and editing content for small businesses, specifically for business websites and public relations campaigns,” Kruzan said in an email.

 Kruzan explained that Heslin’s father, Thomas Heslin, was an award-winning IU Kelley School faculty member, and that the two of them developed a website, gps-to-success.us, to assist businesspeople in learning business basics.

Heslin expressed her excitement in a press release about her upcoming future.

“Leaving the City to launch my own business was not an easy decision to make because being deputy mayor of the world’s greatest college town is an honor and a fantastic job,” Heslin said. “However, I am eager to tackle new challenges and apply the best of the public sector to the world of business.”

Heslin will be doing more than just starting her own business though. This fall, Heslin will be an adjunct instructor at the IU School of Journalism teaching nonprofit public relations.

Before joining the City, Maria earned her B.A. and two Master’s degrees from Indiana University in Journalism and Arts Administration.

“I am forever grateful to Mark for the opportunities he (Kruzan) has provided me, the support he has shown me and the belief he has demonstrated in my abilities throughout the years,” Heslin said in the press release.

“Maria has been a terrific colleague and friend, and she’s been a crucial part of our administration’s efforts,” Kruzan said.

He also described the main qualifications of the Deputy Mayor post are to have the trust and confidence of the mayor, which he said Heslin completely earned.

He cited Heslin’s main accomplishments as being the modernization of the city government, leadership of the Innovation Team and authorship of the city’s Strategic Plan.

 Kruzan also noted her role in helping to establish BEAD, naming and designing the logo for the B-Line Trail, launching the Be Active wellness initiative and increasing the Animal Shelter’s adoption program visibility.

When asked about her replacement, Kruzan said the position is hers until she leaves, and he doesn’t plan on having any conversations about the post until then.

 Kruzan said though that in recent months he has asked the City departments to leave job vacancies open longer than usual to save the taxpayers money. He said they will most likely leave this position open for awhile in order to do the same.

“Maria has done a tremendous amount not only for the city government but for the city as a whole,” Kruzan said. “Our loss is the private sector’s gain as her new business clients will have an expert editor, strategist and marketing professional on their team.

—Samantha Felix