Heather Blanchard is currently conducting research for a book at the American University in Paris where she is finishing her Master of Arts in Global Communications. Prior to her sojourn in France, Heather was a co-founder for CrisisCommons a community of volunteers who use technology to support crisis management and international humanitarian relief efforts. She served the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. in various roles including serving the Office of the Secretary's Private Sector Office as a Business Liaison Director for Technology and Telecommunications and the Office of Public Affairs as Deputy Director of the Ready Campaign. She began the first eight years of her career in the private sector working for the Marasco Newton Group.
In May 2011 Heather testified before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Social Media and Disasters. In March 2012, Government Technology named Heather one of the Top 25 Dreamers and Doers in the public sector.
Heather received her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Radford University in 1995. Representing Homeland Security, she participated in Harvard University's Leading in a Crisis program and Oxford University's Comparative Law and Policy's Summer Institute on Global Media and Technology Policy.
