Heather Rittiner

Heather Rittiner is the National Operations Manager for an aviation weather briefing service supporting a government contract, a position she has held for approximately five years. Her career in aviation spans nearly two decades, beginning with her private pilot's license, which she earned at age sixteen, and continuing through instrument and commercial pilot ratings. Long before stepping into operations leadership, Rittiner built hands-on experience in the field as a weather consultant and airspace flight planner, giving her a ground-level understanding of the industry she now helps oversee.

Rittiner's professional path took shape across more than eighteen years with Lockheed Martin and Leidos, where she moved from a Flight Service Operations Center Manager into her current national leadership role. In this capacity, she drives short-term strategic goals, balances staffing attrition and retention, and safeguards strong customer relationships within a government contracting environment. Her responsibilities also extend to proposal support, compliance-based skill placement, and labor management, all grounded in a collaborative, adaptable approach she has refined through years of internal oversight and departmental leadership prior to her current title.

Rittiner holds a bachelor's degree in family and consumer sciences from Bridgewater College, earned in 1998, along with an associate's degree in air traffic control from the Community College of Beaver County. Outside of her aviation career, she is a certified dog trainer and dedicates her time to the Humane Society in Centerville, Virginia, where she helps prevent dog rehoming through behavioral training. A devoted mother to two teenagers active in volleyball and baseball, Rittiner credits much of her professional growth to her adaptability and her steady commitment to preserving genuine human connection amid an increasingly modernized industry.