Heather Kilcoyne is the director of the Office of Common Services. She was previously the ground segment project manager for the Joint Polar Satellite System Program Office. Heather served as the deputy project manager from June 2015 to July 2018 and transitioned to the role of project manager when the management of the ground segment project transitioned from NASA to NOAA in August 2018.
She began her career with NOAA in 1997 as a contractor serving on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the predecessor to the JPSS program. Heather supported various proposal efforts for the program, as well as developed and tested algorithms for the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite instrument, which is still included on JPSS satellites. She went on to become the calibration/validation lead for the NPOESS Data Products Division, leading the development of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership calibration and validation program.
After the end of NPOESS, Heather served in various roles on the JPSS project, including data products and algorithms integrated product team lead and deputy mission systems engineer for integration and test.
Heather also served as the product algorithm operations lead for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R Series Ground Project. She established a process to change algorithms to efficiently incorporate corrections and technological improvements into the operational software. She provided insight into the science community and their current processes for the development of the NESDIS’s Office of Systems Architecture and Advanced Planning.
Heather has a master’s in meteorology and a bachelor’s in physical sciences, from the University of Maryland, College Park.