Heather recently served at the U.S. Department of State as spokesperson from 2017 to 2019 and as acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2018 to 2019. In that dual role, she articulated U.S. foreign policy and coordinated public messaging for the department, its leadership, and nearly 300 U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide. She traveled extensively with the Secretary of State while helping to plan, execute, and oversee messaging on a number of top department initiatives, including the maximum pressure sanctions campaign on North Korea, and developing communications strategies to address China’s increased economic and military antagonism. She also led efforts to combat state-sponsored disinformation from Russia, China, and Iran.

Heather serves as an advisory board member at the Center for New American Security and as senior fellow at Hudson Institute. Her focus is on U.S. foreign policy. In 2020, she joined the American College of Financial Services as an advisory board member, assisting its veterans education program.
She is member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, and in 2019, President Trump appointed her to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Prior to her role at State, Heather spent nearly 20 years as an anchor and reporter at Fox News and ABC News, where she covered many of the world’s most consequential stories.

Nauert was born in Rockford, Illinois, and spent much of her childhood in Wisconsin. She has an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University and received her B.A. from Mount Vernon College. She lives with her husband and two children in New York.