Cheryl Heppner

Cheryl Heppner is the Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons, which has a mission of empowering deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their families through education, advocacy, and community involvement. Prior to this position, she was an outreach specialist for the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a Public Relations Consultant, an instructor at Shenandoah University, an editor, a librarian, and an access consultant.

Cheryl has a degree in journalism from Penn State University, and she is the author of a book, Seeds of Disquiet, as well as numerous articles. She currently serves as Chair of the national Movie Access Coalition, a coalition of national organizations pushing for captioning of movies in theaters. She is past Chair of the Consumer Action Network, a national coalition of organizations of, by, and for deaf and hard of hearing persons.

Cheryl has received several recent honors, including:

- Distinguished Service Award, National Association of the Deaf, July 2002
- Distinguished Service Award, Virginia Association of the Deaf, June 2001
- I. King Jordan Award, the highest honor of the international Association of Late-Deafened Adults, November 2000.
- National winner, Saturn ³Women at Their Best² Award, October 2000.
- Marsters Award, Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc., July 1999 for efforts to inform and educate the public about telecommunications access and issues.
- Selection in December 1998 as one of the thirty people most influential in telecommunications access for deaf and hard of hearing persons by Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc.

Cheryl has been married for 29 1/2 years to Fred Heppner, a home inspector,
and she travels everywhere with her beloved hearing dog, Dana.