Heather Desserud is the Communications Director for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, a new organisation building resilience, security and sustainability across the Alliance. Her career spans not-for-profit, private sector and government organisations, with a particular focus on the research to economic impact pipeline.

Previously, as Director of Strategy at Research Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada, she led the development and implementation of the provincial research strategy to apply research solutions to improve Nova Scotia’s economy, health systems and environment.

Past roles include leading communications, strategy and knowledge mobilization efforts at MEOPAR, a marine research network hosted in Halifax; creating the Fathom Fund, an innovative program harnessing the crowd to support and co-create scientific research; government media relations; social media management for a national sporting association; and public policy and communications for a public affairs agency.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English (Western University, Canada), and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Communication Management (Purdue University, USA). In 2023, she was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women (Emerging Leaders Category).