Heather Somers

Heather Somers serves as Executive Director of the North Carolina Rural Water Association, where she is passionate about strengthening North Carolina's rural water and wastewater communities through onsite technical assistance, comprehensive training, workforce development, and facilitating collaboration among utilities and industry partners.

She began her career as a Water Operator in rural West Virginia before earning a bachelor's degree in Business Management and moving into Association leadership. Heather is proud to hold both a North Carolina B-Surface Water Treatment Operator License and a C-Distribution Operator License and believes her experience in operations provides valuable perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing today's utilities.

Heather lives in Lexington with her husband. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring the incredible diversity that North Carolina has to offer, eating at small town diners and playing mahjong - although she is far more competitive than the game probably requires.