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Heather Wojton is the Director, Data Strategy and Chief Data Officer for IDA, a role she assumed in 2021. In this position, Heather provides strategic leadership, project management, and direction for the corporation’s data strategy. She is responsible for enhancing IDA’s ability to efficiently and effectively accomplish research and business operations by assessing and evolving data systems, data management infrastructure, and data-related practices.

Heather joined IDA in 2015 as a researcher in the Operational Evaluation Division of IDA’s Systems and Analyses Center. She is an expert in quantitative research methods, including test design and program evaluation. She held numerous research and leadership roles before being named an assistant director in the Operational Evaluation Division.

As a researcher at IDA, Heather led IDA’s test science research program that facilitates data-driven decision-making within the Department of Defense (DOD) by advancing statistical, behavioral, and data science methodologies and applying them to the evaluation of defense acquisition programs. Heather’s other accomplishments include advancing methods for test design, modeling and simulation validation, data management and curation, and artificial intelligence testing. In this role, she worked closely with academic and DOD partners to adapt existing test design and evaluation methods for DoD use and develop novel methods where gaps persist.

Heather has a doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Toledo and a bachelor’s degree in research psychology from Marietta College, where she was a member of the McDonough International Leadership Program. She is a graduate of the George Washington University National Security Studies Senior Management Program and the Maxwell School National Security Management Course at Syracuse University.