1. Heather Wilson previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019, as the 12th president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology from 2013 to 2017, and as a Republican member of the US House of Representatives for from 1998 to 2009.
Heather Wilson did not run for re-election in 2008, instead seeking the US Senate seat of retiring senator Pete Domenici; she finished second in the Republican primary to Congressman Steve Pearce.
On March 8,2019, Heather Wilson announced that she would resign as Secretary, effective May 31, in order to assume the office of President of the University of Texas at El Paso.
Heather Wilson was born on December 30,1960, in Keene, New Hampshire, the daughter of Martha Lou, nurse, and George Douglas Heather Wilson, a commercial pilot and member of the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Heather Wilson grew up around aviation and hoped to become a pilot like her father and grandfather before her.
Heather Wilson's grandfather, George Gordon "Scotty" Wilson, flew for the Royal Air Force in World War I and emigrated to America in 1922 where he was a barnstormer and airport operator in the 1920s and 1930s.
Heather Wilson served as a courier pilot during World War II and started the New Hampshire Civil Air Patrol where he was a Wing Commander.
Heather Wilson's father started flying at age 13 and enlisted in the United States Air Force after high school.
Heather Wilson graduated in 1982 as a Distinguished Graduate.
An Air Force officer for seven years, Heather Wilson was a negotiator and political adviser to the US Air Force in the United Kingdom, and a defense planning officer for NATO in Belgium, where her work included arms control negotiations.
Heather Wilson served in the United States Air Force until 1989 when she was chosen to serve as director for European Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council staff.
In 1995, Governor Gary Johnson appointed Heather Wilson to be Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department.
Heather Wilson was an architect and the chief lobbyist for the governor's education agenda, including a law allowing charter schools, annual testing, and more budget authority for local school boards.
Heather Wilson resigned her cabinet post to enter the Republican primary.
Heather Wilson won the support of Schiff and US Senator Pete Domenici.
Heather Wilson won the Republican primary for the general election with 62 percent of the vote.
Three weeks after winning the primary, Wilson won the special election with 44 percent of the vote in a four-way race against Democratic state senator Phil Maloof, Green Party candidate Robert L Anderson, and Libertarian Party candidation Bruce Bush.
Heather Wilson was sworn into office on June 25,1998, making her the first woman since Georgia Lusk in 1946, and the first Republican woman ever, to represent New Mexico.
Heather Wilson received $1 million from various GOP committees and raised an additional $1.5 million herself.
Less than five months later in the general election, Heather Wilson faced Phil Maloof again.
Maloof far outspent Heather Wilson again, spending an additional $5 million to Heather Wilson's $1.1 million, making it, at that time, the most expensive House race in New Mexico's history.
Heather Wilson was the first woman to represent New Mexico since Georgia Lusk in the 1940s.
Heather Wilson served as a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a coalition of centrist Republican leaders.
Heather Wilson has appeared on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
On October 10,2002, together with 213 other Republicans and 81 Democrats, Heather Wilson voted in favor of authorizing the use of military force against Iraq.
The Albuquerque Journal reported several instances in 2004 when Heather Wilson acted in opposition to Republican interests: requiring the Bush administration to release cost figures for his prescription drug plan, criticizing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the failure to properly respond to violations of the Geneva Conventions during an Abu Ghraib hearing, and opposing a move by House Republicans to protect Tom DeLay from his fundraising scandal.
In 2003, Heather Wilson joined 221 Republicans and 1 Democrat in voting against a Motion to Recommit the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.
On February 7,2006, Heather Wilson, while serving as Chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, called for a full congressional inquiry into the NSA warrantless surveillance.
Heather Wilson was accused of and later cleared of influencing the termination of a US Attorney.
In February 2007, former US Attorney David Iglesias alleged that Heather Wilson's competitive 2006 campaign for re-election to the House was a significant reason for his dismissal from the Justice Department.
Heather Wilson was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, the chairs of which introduced legislation to make the United States Environmental Protection Agency a cabinet department.
The LCVAF issued a press release in which Heather Wilson was criticized for voting against a $58 million fund for voluntary conservation measures in the state.
Heather Wilson won the Republican nomination to succeed him, and faced Democrat Martin Heinrich, who had succeeded Heather Wilson in Congress.
Heather Wilson served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology from 2013 to 2017, leaving to accept the appointment of Secretary of the Air Force.
Heather Wilson returned to academia as the president of the University of Texas at El Paso following her resignation as Secretary of the Air Force.
On March 8,2019, Heather Wilson announced she would resign from this position to be President of the University of Texas at El Paso.
In June 2013, a Department of Energy Inspector General report claimed that Heather Wilson collected $450,000 from four Department of Energy facilities between January 2009 and March 2011.
Heather Wilson chaired the Women in Aviation Advisory Board to the Federal Aviation Administration and has served on corporate boards of directors including Maxar Technologies, Raven Industries and Peabody Energy.
In May 2024, Heather Wilson was appointed to the board of directors of Lockheed Martin Corporation, America's largest military contractor.
Heather Wilson serves on the boards of Google Public Sector and the Texas Space Commission.
Heather Wilson is married to Jay Hone, an attorney and retired Air National Guard Colonel.