Entrepreneur Of The Year 2010
Road to Palm Springs

Heidi Gerding

HeiTech Services, Inc.
Landover, Maryland

Heidi Gerding holds the distinction of being the first woman from Minnesota to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. As a Navy officer, she developed and refined her management style and learned what methods and approaches most often lead to success.

She brought that knowledge and experience to the formation of HeiTech Services, Inc., which she launched from the basement of her home in 1999. HeiTech, which provides management consulting and information technology services to the federal government, is now a 500-employee enterprise operating across six states.

HeiTech is steeped in a corporate culture of honor and integrity. The same values Gerding learned at the Naval Academy are instilled in her employees, to whom she is deeply devoted.

Her own efforts to effectively balance work and family life have given the wife and mother of four a keen appreciation of the commitment and sacrifices employees make as they work with her to overcome obstacles and reach and exceed company goals.

When Gerding left her former employer to start HeiTech, she invested everything she had in her business. This included credit cards, her mother’s inheritance, her 401(k) and even her children’s college funds. When the business began to make money, she put the proceeds back into the business and did not take a salary for three years.

The confidence Gerding demonstrated in those early years has not diminished in the current economy. She looks forward to the future with the identical “reach higher” attitude that helped her grow her company. When her children ask her how to cope with continuing challenges, she replies: “Just keep running.”