Ms. Heaton has served as Executive Director of FCH since February, 2004. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Northwestern Connecticut AIDS Project, an HIV/AIDS service organization serving Litchfield County, from 1992. In 1991-1992 she worked with the Southeast Asian Family Empowerment Project in Chelsea, MA as a community prevention specialist developing outreach and parent education programs for Vietnamese and Cambodian families in the greater Boston area. From 1987-1990 Ms. Heaton served as Project Coordinator at the Health Education and Training Center in San Jose, CA, developing and implementing the first AIDS/HIV education and prevention project for the Latino community of Santa Clara County, CA. She also coordinated a training project for Home Health Aides and Certified Nursing Assistants. In early 1987 she served as a health educator at the San Jose Day Nursery in San Jose, CA while completing a graduate student internship. From 1982 — 1985 Ms. Heaton worked for the International Alliance for Children, a firm based in New Milford, CT and the Philippines, as the Director of Field Operations in Manila managing a home for abandoned, orphaned and neglected children with a variety of health, physical and emotional problems. Ms. Heaton served as Chair of the Litchfield County HIV Care Consortium, as a member of the statewide HIV Care Consortium, and is currently a member of the American Public Health Association. She also is a past member of the Torrington Rotary Club and the Torrington Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Heaton received certification in Non-Profit Management from the University of Connecticut in 1998, and an AIDS Educator certificate from the CT Department of Public Health in 1993. She received a Masters of Public Health in Community Health Education from San Jose State University in 1988, and a BA in Government and Law from Lafayette College in 1982.