Who We Are

Staff

Kristal Heinz, Esquire Senior Project Manager

Kristal joined the Institute to provide program support to the then President, Hal Williams.  She now manages the Institute’s Community Sparkplug programs, which bets on people to deliver big results at reduced costs.  She is currently working in distressed Appalachian Communities with community development projects and Texas colonias, bringing water and wastewater services to those currently living without.  Kristal also acts as the Institute’s in-house counsel.

Prior to joining TRI, Kristal attended Albany Law School, where she was awarded a Juris Doctor in 2007. She spent the summer following graduation studying for the New York State Bar Exam and became an attorney in the State of New York in March 2008.

While in law school, Kristal had the unique experience of studying international law at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. She had the opportunity to spend time at the United Nation’s Environmental Program, which is headquartered in Nairobi, and within the country’s High Court system. What impacted Kristal most, however, was the rampant poverty and substandard living conditions in which most Kenyans live. While she had visited developing countries in the past, she was overwhelmed by the Kibera slum, which houses nearly 1 million of Kenya’s poorest people. But it was the warm hearts and friendly smiles of the Kenyan people, whose deep understanding of those things in life that truly bring happiness to our daily lives, that prompted Kristal to consider a career outside of a law firm.

Prior to law school, Kristal was the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of a wireless internet provider. At 28, she was an Executive Member of the organization Women in Cable and Telecommunications.