Early career Heinen began her career as an associate in several
San Francisco Bay area law firms. She then worked in the legal department of
Tandem Computers and was later hired by
Steve Jobs as the general counsel at
NeXT. From 1988 to 1993, Heinen was the Secretary of
Hewlett Packard Enterprise. While at NeXT, Heinen helped to prepare the company for its initial public offering, and its eventual acquisition by
Apple Computer Inc.
Apple Computer Inc (1997–2006) After NeXT was purchased by
Apple in March 1996, Heinen stayed with the company as General Counsel and secretary. Heinen later became Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Legal Secretary of Apple Computer Inc. She was also on the board of
BSA Software Alliance from 1996 to 2005. Heinen was one of several Apple executives credited with helping to revive Apple after it experienced a
financial decline in the 1990s, along with
Fred D. Anderson, Mitch Mandich,
Jon Rubinstein, and
Avie Tevanian. During this time, Apple began pre-emptively applying for patents to prevent them from being obtained by the company's competition, a tactic Heinen described as "a defensive tool". Heinen left Apple on May 1, 2006, after nine years with the company. Neither Heinen nor Apple commented on her departure other than to confirm it. Shortly after she left, she retained two criminal defense lawyers, and Apple admitted to irregularities in its
handling of executive stock option dating.
SEC allegations On April 24, 2007, the
SEC filed a claim against Heinen alleging that she caused Apple to backdate large option grants and altered corporate records to hide the actions. According to the SEC press release, "Heinen is charged with, among other things, violating the antifraud provisions of the
Securities Act of 1933 and the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, lying to Apple's auditors, and violating prohibitions on circumventing internal controls" based on options awarded to
Steve Jobs which were dated October 19, 2001 but allegedly granted in December 2001, and also option grants awarded to top company executives, including Heinen which were dated January 17, 2001 but allegedly granted in February 2001. Heinen was to return $1.575 million from the stock options that she received, plus interest, and pay a $200,000 penalty. Apple's former
CFO Fred D. Anderson had already reached a $3.5 million settlement with the SEC in 2007, without admitting or denying its allegations regarding the stock-option backdating at the technology company. The SEC settlement also barred Heinen from serving as a public company officer or director for five years and barred her from practicing before the SEC for three years. Heinen's settlement ended the civil suit filed in
California federal court by the SEC in April 2007 that would otherwise have gone to trial in 2009. A two-year criminal investigation into the matter by the U.S. Justice Department was closed without criminal charges being filed.
Post-Apple career After leaving Apple, Heinen became involved in various philanthropic and non-profit organizations, particularly those related to social justice, and economic and educational outreach. In 2009, Heinen joined the board of directors of Silicon Valley Social Ventures. a non-profit founded by
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen. Heinen became vice chair in 2011, and
chairman in 2012. She participated in the education grant round and partner
advisory board, and served as a co-leader of
FY16-17's international
grant round. Heinen is Chair of the Board of Directors for First Place For Youth, a non-profit organization which helps foster youths, and of Teen Success Inc. Heinen has served as a member of the board of several other organizations such as
Embrace, the
UC Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy,
Northern California Innocence Project, Illuminate Ventures, Duarte, and
Vitamix. Heinen is also a sponsor of People Acting in Community Together (P.A.C.T). On December 20, 2019, it was announced that Heinen had joined the board of directors of VERB Technology Company, Inc., a
Newport Beach, California based software company. == Personal life ==