In the 24 years that Heather Haugland has been with the firm, she has served in a wide variety of roles: project manager, analyst, editor, survey designer, facilitator, and presenter, among others. While Heather has experience in a range of industries, she has particular depth in the tourism, education, and maritime sectors. She also leads the firm’s survey team.

Heather is considered one of Alaska’s leading tourism industry analysts, having worked on a wide array of projects for the State of Alaska, large and small communities in both Alaska and Washington State, and private sector clients. She has managed visitor research projects involving tens of thousands of visitor surveys, using both online and intercept methodologies, and frequently conducts market demand assessments.

Heather has managed dozens of projects related to Alaska’s postsecondary education system, including recent and current student surveys, student retention studies, high school graduate surveys, student loan surveys, and an inventory and analysis of Alaska’s postsecondary access programs. She recently led an analysis of the Alaska Performance Scholarship.

Heather’s maritime experience includes studying the economics of the Ballard Locks, the outlook for commercial fishing fleet modernization in the Pacific Northwest, the impacts of an Anacortes marina, a market analysis of the riverboat industry on the Columbia/Snake Rivers, and the economic impacts of an Alaska groundfish fishery, among other subjects.

Heather graduated from Harvard University with an honors degree in English. She completed subsequent training and coursework in facilitation and market research. Heather was named a “Top 40 Under 40” by the Alaska Journal of Commerce in 2007. Heather is a former co-chair of the Alaska Business Forum, an event series at the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and is currently Vice President of the Seattle Propeller Club, a maritime industry association. She has been working out of Bellingham since 2010.