Heather Ferguson

For more than 10 years, Heather Ferguson has been helping professionals transition into new roles and build transferable skills. During her time working with the SOAR (new student orientation) program at UW-Madison, Heather supported more than 75,000 students and families transitioning to the university.

In her time at the UW-Madison SBDC, Heather has supported the Center’s classes and training opportunities, including pivoting all courses online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, working with instructors to adapt and/or develop new classes, and enhance external communication through the Center’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and newsletter.

She was also heavily involved in:

• the creation of the Center’s Navigating the New Normal COVID response/strategic planning guide
• adapting – and revamping! – a fully online Financial Management – Sprint course that could support the learning of business owners who were new to financial management terminology and concepts
• supporting the content development of a financial projections online course
• redesigning the Center’s long-running Entrepreneurial Training Program to offer a hybrid course format and a brand-new, course-specific workbook

Heather also received a national ASBDC 40 Under 40 award in 2022.

In addition, Heather has presented on giving effective feedback, leadership, organizational operations, conflict transformation, and partnership development at the local, regional, and national levels and has taught university career and seminar courses. Heather has a B.A. in English and Journalism from Northern Illinois University and an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education from Western Illinois University.