Heather brings a diverse range of leadership, entrepreneurial, and coaching experiences to Coverdale. She is the co-founder and Program Director of the Field Academy, an innovative high school that seeks to transform the space in which education occurs through travel and in-depth field-based study. Previously, in her experience as the Academic Program Director of the Traveling School, a study abroad program, Heather managed leadership teams while leading semester long trips in 13 different countries around the world. She has traveled extensively in Central and South America, is fluent in Spanish, and has worked as a translator and team leader for groups of adults traveling in Latin America. In each context, she facilitated extensive group dynamics, leadership training, and challenging conversations around a variety of social and political issues both within the group and more globally.
Heather has a B.A in Religious Studies with a concentration in Neuroscience from Williams College. She is currently a M.A. Candidate at Prescott College, studying Transformative Leadership and Applied Organizational Development. Her research has focused on participatory leadership and experiential education as tools for organizational and social transformation. Her systems-based approach to the study and assessment of organizations draw inspiration from ecological patterning.
Heather has extensive experience with the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a diagnostic tool in conflict transformation processes and group and organizational decision-making. She is a qualified MBTI practitioner, having trained with the well-known MBTI expert Otto Kroeger. She has facilitated MBTI workshops for people of all ages. She has also used MBTI widely as an individual coaching tool.
Heather is a certified permaculture designer and a Wilderness First Responder, and in her spare time enjoys farming, hiking, canoeing, and cross-country skiing in Maine.