Mark Heller
Executive Director
Golden Urban Renewal Authority

Mark Heller became GURA’s Executive Director in July 2004, bringing more than 15 years of experience in community planning, economic development, small business legal counseling, cultural organization management and community involvement. He has overseen significant positive changes in GURA and for downtown Golden and was the recipient along with the GURA Board of the Golden Chamber of Commerce’s 2005 Civic Award.

Heller developed a passion for community planning while living in Crested Butte, Colorado, where he served on the boards of some of the area’s leading environmental, cultural, and economic organizations. He was a board member of High Country Citizens’ Alliance and the Crested Butte Mountain Theatre and was counsel to the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival and the Crested Butte Music Festival among others. One of Heller’s objectives in working with such diverse groups was to balance sustainable economic development with environmental conservation and community vitality.

Heller began his legal career in 1991 as Assistant General Counsel with the Texas Ethics Commission, where he joined a team of six other attorneys in a new state agency designed to regulate lobbying, campaign financing, and political advertising.

Heller earned his undergraduate degree with honors in interdisciplinary studies (Plan II) in 1987 and a law degree in 1991, both from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2006. His varied educational background also includes study at Trinity College, Oxford, and at the University of San Diego School of Law in Paris, France.