Heidi Koontz

About Heidi Koontz

Heidi Koontz has been a liaison with U.S. Geological Survey scientists, media and congress for 25 years. Koontz is the media team lead for the Rocky Mountain and Midcontinent Regions, USGS Central States Office of Communications. She began working for the USGS as a student while pursuing and receiving a B.S. in journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Since 1993, career highlights include managing the International media room for the 1997 Denver Summit of the Eight; coordination of USGS media response for the Taiwan Sumatra (2004), Haiti (2010), Mineral, Virginia (2011), Nepal (2015), Mexico City (2017) and Salt Lake City (2020) earthquakes; and multiple proactive flood, hurricane, wildfire, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), invasive species, and earthquake news events. Specialties: Media training, media events, editing, writing, managing, pitching, crisis communications.

Experience

1. Public Affairs Specialist

   U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

   Jan 1996 — Present

   Koontz is the media team lead for the Southwest and Midwest regions, USGS Central States Office of Communications. She began working for the USGS as a student while pursuing and receiving a B.S. in journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Since 1993, career highlights include managing the International media room for the 1997 Denver Summit of the Eight; coordination of USGS media response for the Taiwan Sumatra (2004), Haiti (2010) and Nepal (2015) earthquakes; and multiple proactive flood, hurricane, wildfire, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and earthquake news events.Act as Regional Chief of Communications when lead is away.

Education

• University of Colorado at Boulder

  Journalism, Sociology

  1991 — 1995

• Red Rocks Community College

  Associate, Management

  1996 — 1997